DEPARTMENT ORDER NO. 149-A,

Series of 2017 Amending Department Order No. 149, Series of 2016 on "Guidelines in Assessing and Determining Hazardous Work in the Employment of persons below 18 years of age"

Reader note — Original 2017 limited amendment. Department Order No. 149-A (16 January 2017) amends only the farmers and animal producers portion of Section 6(b) of D.O. No. 149, Series of 2016. Its "XXX" marker shows omitted material; this is not the complete hazardous work list. The Section 2 it mentions refers to the hazardous conditions in the 2016 guidelines. This page does not consolidate the rules on child work permits, inspections or other occupational classifications.

Related rules and later enforcement. The full 2016 guidelines supply the hazardous conditions and occupational list surrounding this limited amendment. D.O. 65, Series of 2004 and Department Circular No. 2, Series of 2017, as amended in specified parts by Department Circular No. 2, Series of 2018, address working-child permits; a permit does not authorize hazardous work. D.O. 238, Series of 2023 supplies a later visitorial and enforcement framework and expressly prioritizes establishments engaged in hazardous work or employing children. DOLE’s Institute for Labor Studies reported review of an updated draft of the hazardous-work guidelines in February 2026; that news article does not supply an issued replacement order. The text below remains the identified 2017 amendment, with the surrounding current procedures outside this reader.

In the interest of service, Section 6.b. of Department Order No. 149, Series of 2016 is hereby amended as follows:

SECTION 6. Hazardous Work and Activities.

2. Work and activities under the following occupational classifications which would subject the child to the conditions provided under Section 2 of this Guidelines are declared hazardous to persons below 18 years of age:
   1. i. Farmers and Other Plant Growers
      1. Preparatory and planting activities that involve clearing of land, plowing, harrowing, irrigating, constructing paddy dike, and cutting
      2. Plant propagation activities that involve grafting, budding, and marcotting
      3. Tending activities that involve weeding; handling, spraying and application of harmful fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and other toxic chemicals; and the loading and carrying of heavy loads
      4. Harvesting activities that involve cutting and picking, spreading for drying, hauling, topping, tumbling, tuxying, stripping, burning of field, sticking and classifying, threshing, loading and carting of produce
      5. Post-harvesting activities that involve de-husking, scooping, sacking of products, charcoal making, hauling of products as led by animal guide, loading and unloading of packed farm products, coconut kilning and de-meating of crops from shell or core, sealing and carting of produce for warehousing and transport to market and all ancillary work such as clearing, cleaning, and re-cycling of farm waste in its preparation as animal food and other related processes
   2. ii. Animal Producers
      1. Rearing activities that involve collecting, loading, unloading, and transporting of feeds, maintenance and care of large and/or dangerous animals, collecting and disposal of dead animals, animal manure and other waste materials, administering of vaccines and vitamins, and handling of disinfectants used for cleaning animal pens/enclosures or for disinfecting animals
      2. Harvesting activities that involve catching or collecting, ranching, and milking in preparation for warehousing or transport to market
      3. Post-harvesting activities that involve packaging and processing of dairy and other animal by-products in preparation for warehousing and transport to market
      4. Working in slaughterhouses or abattoirs

XXX

For compliance.

SILVESTRE H. BELLO III

Secretary

16 January 2017