A 16-year-old boy who posed as a 30-year-old, evidently in order to gain work, was killed in an accident at a composting plant near Arvin recently. In addition to being a sad incident that took the life of a teenager who should have had many decades ahead of him, it was also an occurrence that may result in charges against the composting plant for employment law violations.

The boy was killed when he went into a hole to clean it and was overcome by hydrogen sulfide gas, a dangerous substance emitted by rotting vegetation that can be lethal in high concentrations. A 22-year-old co-worker, who was employed by a different company, tried to rescue him but also fell unconscious. The two were rescued when a third coworker called the fire department.

The 16-year-old boy was died after being exposed to the noxious fumes. His 22-year-old would-be rescuer remains in the hospital. The third worker suffered from exposure, even though he never went into the hole. He was treated at a medical facility and released.

Investigators will probably now probe why the company did not pick up on the fact that the 16-year-old was impersonating someone nearly twice his age. They will also want to know what kind of safety equipment the boy was supposed to be wearing and what kind of safety policies and procedures the company had developed for this kind of situation.

California and the federal government have passed laws that are meant to keep all workers, and especially young people, safe. So when something like this happens, people naturally have a lot of questions they want answered.

Source: KERO-TV, "Teen Killed In Industrial Accident Had Fake ID," Cris Ornelas, Oct. 14, 2011