Minors in Laboratories

“Minor” means a person under the age of eighteen (18), participating in a program or activity that is being sponsored or operated by NYU in an NYU facility who is not enrolled in any degree granting programs at NYU.

“Supervisor” means any person who sponsors or engages in oversite of any Minor on campus.

Check in advance that your Department and Chairperson are comfortable with high school students in your facilities. There may be safety or security issues in neighboring areas that need to be respected. Clarify with your colleagues about areas that may be off limits.

• The program or activity the Minors are participating in must be registered with the Office of Youth Programs Compliance.
• Hazard specific safety training must be completed by the Supervisor with the Minor.
• Personal protective equipment, specific to the hazard, must be provided to the minor with instructions on use and disposal by the Supervisor.
  
• The Minor must supervised at all times while in the facility and never left alone.
  
• Hours of work must comply with Federal Regulation 29 CFR 570.35.

All Minors are prohibited from working or conducting research in the following:

Minors may not work with, or be at risk of exposure to, infectious agents. In particular, minors must be isolated from the following biological hazards:

• Biosafety Level (BSL2) or Biosafety Level (BSL3) pathogens
• Primary human and non-human primate materials
• Biological Select Agents or Toxins
• Risk Group 2 recombinant materials and viral vector
• Any laboratory or facility where select agents or explosives are used or stored.
• Any Animal Care Services housing or procedure area/lab/facility. (Note that this does not apply to individual Principal Investigator animal research laboratories.)

Contact RLS if you have any questions. 

Minors are prohibited from working with any of the following materials:

• Radioactive materials or radiation (X-rays)
• Acute Toxins
• Lasers
• Superconducting magnets
• Particularly Hazardous Substances (PHS) 

Minors are allowed to work in art facilities if the following requirements are met in full:

• The program or activity that the Minors are participating in has been registered with the Office of Youth Programs Compliance.
• Hazard specific safety training is completed by the Supervisor with the minor.
• Personal protective equipment, specific to the hazard, is provided to the Minor with instructions for use and disposal by the Supervisor.
• The Minor is supervised at all times while in the facility and never left alone. 
• Hours of work comply with Federal Regulation 29 CFR 570.35.

Minors who work or volunteer will need to complete the online training modules found in BioRAFT under the NYU Home Page. You will need an NYU ID Card to access NYU Home.

Superviors must complete the On-line Assessment Form should you be supervising minors in your facility and meet the listed guidelines. 

Please add the minor into your virtual lab in BioRAFT as a "member". You can complete this in two ways: 

• The PI/Supervisor can manually add the minor within the "Members" tab, or:
• The minor can log into BioRAFT and use the Self-Registration Quick Guide (PDF: 750 KB) to add themselves. 

Site specific training must be given by the lab supervisor or PI to all minors before conducting research activities. Please document the site specific training given.