YOUTH CAMP SAFETY ACT WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1974 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a.m., in room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dominick V. Daniels (chairman) of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Daniels (presiding), Sarasin, and Peyser. Staff members present: Daniel H. Krivit, majority counsel; Alexandra Kisla, clerk; and Yvonne Franklin, minority legislative assistant. Mr. DANIELS. The Select Subcommittee on Labor will come to order. This morning, we continue with our hearings on the Youth Camp Safety Act. I am delighted to welcome to this hearing this morning the Honorable Benjamin S. Rosenthal, a very able and distinguished member of Congress from the Eighth Congressional District of the State of New York. Mr. Rosenthal indeed is a very dedicated member of Congress, always taking a great interest in legislation which affects consumers and in this case affecting the youth of our Nation. STATEMENT OF HON. BENJAMIN S. ROSENTHAL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK Mr. ROSENTHAL. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I would, with your permission, ask that my statement be included. in the record. Mr. DANIELS. Without objection, at this time it will be so recorded. [The statement of Mr. Rosenthal follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. BENJAMIN S. ROSENTHAL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK Mr. Chairman, Members of the Subcommittee, I want to thank you for this opportunity to testify today on a subject that has been of immense concern to me for several years both as a member of Congress and as a parent-Youth Camp Safety. And I want to commend you for your sincere and vigorous efforts to protect our children. Each summer, between seven and eight million children enjoy the advenurous life of being campers. For many families, including my own, this yearly excursion to summer camp has become a tradition, offering children an enrichng and unique experience as they learn to substitute one lifestyle for another. Their activities will range from back-packing through mountain passes to hanging bed linens and washing floors. Some chores will be done grudgingly, perhaps, but done at the discretion and with the assistance of camp staffers who assume the responsibility of their care and safety. Too many camps and too many states have not met that responsibility. Many conscientiously operated camps subscribe to health and safety standards of their own. The problem is that these are voluntary, generally lack enforcement provisions and are adhered to with differing degrees of enthusi asm by subscriber camps. Worse, only 28 states have even minimal regulations of their own, and of these only six have and enforce what can be considered adequate codes. One of the six, I am pleased to report, is my own state of New York. This situation is simply not good enough. That is why I appear before you today to urge adoption of H.R. 1486, the "Youth Camp Safety Act." I am proud to be a sponsor of this bill (H.R. 8270, identical). Eight years ago Senator Ribicoff first offered legislation to tighten camp safety requirements. The bill was introduced at the request of Mitch Kur man, whose one man crusade for camp safety began when his son drowned in a camp canoeing accident in Maine in 1965. The canoe David Kurman was in did not contain lifejackets. Since then, many more children have died needlessly while the Congress and the Administration have been debating the need for federal legislation in this area. The time for study is long past. We must act and act decisively without further delay to stop the needless injury and loss of life. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare has consistently fought effective youth camp safety legislation, saying it was unnecessary, not enough was known about the problem and, anyway, it should be left to the states. In a 1968 report, HEW admitted to a gap in camp safety standards and its own general unawareness of this deficiency. It acknowledged that most states required absolutely no camp licensing or inspection, and that only half the states had any kind of regulatory programs at all. That some report cited favorably the various camp accreditation programs now in effect by the American Camping Association and other similar voluntary groups, but admitted such programs place relatively slight emphasis on compliance with minimal safety codes. When, in 1968, HEW claimed insufficient data to make authoritative judgement about pending youth camp safety legislation, the bill died. Legislation was resubmitted in each succeding Congress. In 1971 a minimum measure was enacted, authorizing the Secretary of HEW to determine the effectiveness of state and local camp safety laws and regulations, and the extent of preventable accidents and illnesses so as to determine the need for federal laws in this area. This most recent HEW study was nothing more than a halfhearted literature search and mail questionnaire. Fewer than half the camps surveyed (3,343 of 7,861) bothered to respond. Results showed 25 deaths. 1,223 "serious" illnesses, and 1,448 injuries associated with camping in 1972. Even these figures are not adequate representations since, according to the HEW report. "there is no systematic or comprehensive monitoring of serious illness, injury and death." This, especially in light of HEW's report that a quarter of a million children are involved in serious camp accidents each season, appears to contradict the Department's conclusion that "the incidence of illnesses, injuries and deaths in summer camps does not appear to be a severe threat to youths." It would be tragic if we waited any longer for more disasters to motivate us into action. One need only spend a short time at a summer sleepaway camp or on a youth travel program to know the potential threat to safety and health that most activities pose. Swimming and boating activities, athletics, hikes and camp-outs all may be hazardous to some extent. All questions of food supply preparation and distribution, all questions of adequate sleeping arrangements fire safety, water supply and sewerage, and health services become the responsibility of camp directors. Parents are almost helpless after they transfer the responsibility for their children's safety to camps; camps which ther cannot adequately evaluate. Given insufficient information, it is hard for parents to differentiate between rustic, though adequate and inadequate facilities. Critics of the Youth Camp Safety bill have consistently downplayed the legitimacy of federal intervention in what they considered to be a state matter. yet H.R. 1486 gives individual states the opportunity to establish and implement their own regulations. In fact, it encourages them to do so by authorizing grants for this express purpose. As you know, Mr. Chairman, youth camp safety is a subject I am vitally concerned with. I introduced legislation in this area as early as 1967, and have testified before this subcommitteeon at least two previous occasions. I have seen the number of accidents and deaths mount with each passing camp season. I feel grateful that the camping experience has been a positive one for my own children, but for too many other children it has been a horror. The obligation we have for the protection of our children in basic. Immediate passage of the "Youth Camp Safety Act" would lead to such protection. Mr. ROSENTHAL. Perhaps I could direct a few remarks. First, I do want to commend you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee and Mr. Peyser for the leadership you have shown in this area, for the perspicacity that you have exhibited in pursuing this very important subject very candidly and very strongly. It overwhelms me and I find it totally unacceptable and unable to comprehend and understand why the Congress and the public at large hasn't seen the urgency for the passage of youth camp safety laws. The situation is not getting better, it is getting worse. The situation warrants more attention today than it did years ago. In looking forward to this hearing this morning, I took note of the three other times I appeared before this distinguished subcommittee and I started thinking of why I feel more strongly about this bill today than I did on July 25, 1968. In that testimony, I said the following, that my own daughter is a camper at Starlight, Pa. Of course, I am concerned about her safety. My other youngster is a camper at a day camp. About a week ago, he fell off a horse and landed on his head. Fortunately, it wasn't anything serious, but it could have been, and the fact is that it could have been was an absurd situation. I think at that time he was obviously much younger than he is today, but he was about 7 years old at that time. It was absolutely irrational for him to be, during the course of those camping proceedings, permitted to ride a horse without instruction, without preparation, without supervision. It is only a miracle that something didn't happen to him. The point of that story is that the statistics cited in the rather flimsy-and I think that is too strong a word to describe the HEW report-doesn't tell the story at all. The story is 100 times what they have received from any of the voluntary reporting from the camps. At another time, this same youngster who had no particular propensity for unsafe situation subsequent to the horse situation went to a day camp here in Washington, and they took them down the Potomac in a canoe. Maybe again they were 8 or 9 years old. I guess in some way this is a reflection on our ability to pick camps. I suppose it is. But these little boys and girls down on the Potomac in the canoe defies the imagination. When we found out about it at the end of the day, we were just grateful that this kid and his colleagues were still with us. Why people in these camping situations do these things is interesting. It has all to do with economics. Both in day camps and in sleepaway camps, they don't have the financial wherewithal, or don't choose to have it, of building appropriate facilities. So what they do frequently is appropriate public facilities. They take the children on bus trips, intellectually presumably stimulating trips, canoe trips and things like that. Look what The American Camping Association for the most part is doing an adequate job in representing private camps. Mr. DANIELS. When was Camp Monroe last inspected by the American Camping Association? Mr. KRIEGER. I don't believe they do inspect private camps. They do? Mr. DANIELS. Sure they do. Mr. PEYSER. There is somebody here in the audience from the American Camping Association. Mr. DANIELS. There is a representative of the American Camping Association here and we can ask him that question right now. Don't you inspect camps, sir? Mr. STOLZ. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. Mandatory reinspection a minimum of every 5 years unless there is a violation, and it has to be reinspected the following year. Mr. DANIELS. How long have you been a member of the American Camping Association? Mr. KRIEGER. As long as I know. As long as I have been around. Mr. DANIELS. How long is that? Mr. KRIEGER. As far as I know, Camp Monroe has always been a member of the American Camping Association, and in high standing, too. As far as the American Camping Association goes, they give out awards, recommendation awards for high standards of health and safety and we have them plastered all over our main office. Mr. DANIELS. Have you brought your complaints to the attention of anybody in the State government here? Mr. KRIEGER. At the meeting of the American Camping Association, which I believe was a couple of months ago, Mr. Gates spoke there and a representative of Camp Monroe spoke with him about the new laws. Mr. Daniels. Did you bring your views to their attention? Mr. KRIEGER. The views were brought over the 30 square feet. You see, the problem Mr. DANIELS. What response did you receive? Mr. KRIEGER. A favorable response. See, the problem was this; that when we were inspected the man who came and inspected was misquoting the law. He didn't know. He said that the 40-foot regulation went into effect immediately. We showed him a copy of Mr. Gates' statement and he didn't know about it, this was the first he had heard, he thought is was wrong. He checked the next day and we called him back and found out that he was the one making the mistake. Mr. DANIELS. Were you cited for any violation of the law? Mr. KRIEGER. Every time somebody comes to inspect our camp, things were always found wrong. If you think about it, it is part of their responsibility to come and find things wrong. Most of the time it would be minor things. We have never had any major health problems, never had any major problems with food or with anything else. The things that they used to come and find wrong would be considered minor problems, things like painting another line in the swimming pool, repairing the screen in one of the bunks, dirt in a corner that hasn't been cleaned since last summer. |