hazardous work

Hazardous work is the most dangerous category within child labour, and the one international standards treat most strictly. Article 3(d) of the ILO's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention of 1999 defines it as work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children. In practice that means work in dangerous or unhealthy conditions that could leave a child killed, injured or made ill through poor safety standards or the way the work is arranged. The prohibition applies to everyone under 18, whatever the general minimum working age in that country.

The Convention requires each country to draw up and publish its own list of the work it forbids to under 18s, agreed through consultation between government, workers' organisations and employers' organisations. ILO Recommendation No. 190 sets out what those lists should cover: work exposing children to physical, psychological or sexual harm; work underground, under water, at dangerous heights or in confined spaces; work with dangerous machinery or the manual handling of heavy loads; work in unhealthy environments involving hazardous substances, damaging noise or vibration; and work under especially difficult conditions such as long hours, night work, or being unreasonably confined to the employer's premises.