[xzins]

I live in an Amish region of southern Ohio. We've long been a hardwood logging area, and the Amish are no exception.....everything from lumber to finished furniture.

They have an exemption from the state for their kids to work in home sawmill operations (a la "The Waltons").

[P-Marlowe]

I would imagine that the deal with Ohio requires that children working in Amish lumber operations are required to obey all state saftey orders, especially in regard to children. While a church may be exempt from child labor laws for religious reasons, a church is not exempt from Safety Laws, as no legitimate religious purpose can be argued in allowing a church to ignore orders and laws set up for the protection of paid workers or children. Thus I would imagine that children working in Amish factories and construction sites are required to be subject to all saftey rules and orders that apply to non-Amish, i.e., safety harnesses on roofing jobs, eye protection, ear protection, point of operation protection, hard hats, safety shoes.

Now with regard to the man in the article, it appears that he is not exactly the paragon of virtue. He is a scofflaw. He apparently not only was in violation of safety laws, but fraud as well.

"He has been audited five times since 1990 for such violations as failing to have industrial insurance and inaccurately reporting employees' hours. He was fined $107,000 for erroneously reporting hours for workers-compensation insurance and $4,400 for violating state health-and-safety laws."

That's downright dishonest. In California you could go to jail for that.