Builder brings 12 year old daughter to work

[TinyBuddhettes]

Childcare issues, I get it. This contractor/builder guy is doing up our drive. His daughter mostly stays in his van but yesterday I could see that she was operating the mini digger while he was recording her. This wasn't just a couple of minutes for a photo, it went on for maybe an hour. The two of them were frolicking and being quite stupid really. I was in disbelief watching from inside the house. Our drive is now all digged up and I don't want any awkwardness or the potential of him not finishing the job. Anyone know where we stand with the law? Can we say that from a legal point of view we do not consent to an under 16 being withing the bounds of our property at any point?

This is the most ridiculous thing I've read on MN.

It's illegal to employ a person under 13 years of age

Clearly you’ve not experienced builders terms of payment these days..or alternately can I have name of your builder who is happy on daily rate ?

if you do this to builders , dock a days pay, they will simply stop coming. Most bulders take huge persuasion not to have stage payments fixed to pre determined date, and instead accept stage payments based on critical milestones achieved. That’s what I focus on now given the alternative opens you to all sorts of horrors.

they will simply walk away form any job that is giving them hassle, parotcualoy around withholding payments.

my experience of bulders 10 or 20 or 30 years ago is a million times different than those in last 5 years. I think becuase they’re in short supply, since Brexit meant the poles and Romanians went home that’d undercut, and those left have more work than they can do. They’ll simply pick and choose and walk away form anyone who is challenging them about payments.

In the UK, there is no minimum age to drive a motorized digger on private land, provided it's not accessible to the public. While no specific license or age is required for private land use, individuals should be competent and knowledgeable about safe operation. Employers have legal duties to assess risks for young workers under 18 and ensure adequate training.

she probably operates it at home, in fact at the ice cream farm you can pay to operate them 😂

It's illegal to employ a person under 13 years of age and the implications if something goes wrong are quite horrendous. You need to get rid of this contractor asap

When a friend of mine divorced her Dick of a H he suddenly decided that he just had to spend loads of time with their son (50/50 funnily enough) and kept taking him to work with him when my friend could have had him at home with her.

My DS is 8 and he drives a tractor and dumper truck around my friends farm and uses the digger when they are digging ditches etc. He can also drive a manual car (obvs on private land) I really don't see the problem.

You have no idea what his liability insurance covers.
either ask, or shut your curtains and get on with your day!

Really?! There are huge statistics about farm related accidents.

But anyway this is not on a farm and besides it's illegal.

Hollow laugh.

The customer was nothing but joyful to see a 2.5 year old pass her Dad the odd tools.

Yeah i bet they were! 🙄

Until an accident happens and the adults who are the ones taking the responsibility for these kids are asked questions or worse have to live with the consequences of their poor decisions.

What your child does on private land isn't relevant either.

That’s great but the point is it’s your friends farm not a stranger who is paying a professional to do a job for them .

Did you charge him for childminding or did he knock anything off the bill?

If its delaying the job a lot, or if you're paying an hourly/day rate, then that's really bad. But if its an agreed price for the whole job and its not getting delayed then I wouldn't make a fuss, as then he might just not come back and you'll be stuck.

OH has had to take DS(7) to work with him a couple of times (he's an electrician) but I think he's always checked with the customer first to make sure its ok, and DS always comes back with bags of sweets and cakes given to him by the customers so I guess they don't mind that much.

I've taken DD to work with me a couple of times (when she was 13, and 14) but that's in a production factory not someone's private property so no customers to annoy, but there were potential risks with dangerous equipment - I just didn't let her use anything more dangerous than she uses at school in woodwork.

As a child of the 80/90's, I would often go with my dad from age of 10ish (landscape builder) of a weekend/during holidays, it's how I earnt my pocket money 😉 I'd barrow bricks to where he was working, take back/unload the waste, load/unload the truck - I was strong and a real grafter, and learnt a lot! Where I wasn't of use, I'd sit in his truck drawing, eating warm jam sandwiches and just people watching...the customers would sometimes invite me in to watch TV ("Stanger Danger" 😉 I always politely declined), ply me with biscuits, home baked cakes and juice 😋 saying that, I don't remember spending any time frolicking on diggers (that was at the yard!!) or speaking longer than it took for him to smoke a cigarette and throw an 'order' towards the 'lackies' and I 🙃 as I got older, I was tasked with admin and accounts 🤷‍♀️

We've had work done recently and due to illness, the guy brought his young girl who was tasked with following him where he went. My children would've struggled with her in the house (SN) but I showed her where the garden toys were, ferried snacks/drinks and guided to bathroom when needed (however, if the trader left my bathroom in a mess like I'm assuming yours did, I wouldn't allow him either!). The trader mostly kept busy to be fair and was appreciative.

Of course in 'my' day, there wasn't as much concern for health and safety 😉 digger-daycare should be in their own time, work not impacted and the child away from danger. Legally, not certain on technicalities but think difficulties arise if during term time (impacts on education) and whether the young person (depending on age) is employed/paid (child labour/regulations) 🤔 operating machinery is likely the bigger issue 🙈

Was the child operating machinery?

Can you imagine turning up to your smear and the HCP saying, "oh sorry, I couldn't get childcare for my kid, you don't mind if my kid sits in on this appointment? Oh sorry, Tommy's a bit bored (he's only 12), I'll just let him gawp at your minge and play with the light for a bit of entertainment. Oh and he's played with all the speculums and quite fancies a go with the little cervix brush. It's either let him be in on this appointment or you can reschedule for 3 months time.

splutter

@Icecreamandcoffee you have made my day. 😂

Really. Good for you and I remember those times. But thankfully, times have changed now and the op is asking whether this is acceptable now and no it's not.

I bet you weren't a kid in the 70s or you'd have been put off such antics by the soul-scarring public information film that did the rounds at the time, about playing on farms... 😄

Lol
That made me laugh, thank you.

I don't either. And I wonder what the OP's opinion would be if it was his son helping him on the job...

It’s only a job that lasts a few days. Not worth worrying about as they will soon be gone.

It shouldn't be any different. It's illegal.

Oh god we watched those in school, still scarred by the boy that fell into the pigswill and the girl who drank random toxic crap from a bottle then died later!

I’m still wary of speaking to strangers because Charlie said not to.