There is a massive distinction between an adolescent working along side a parent or other family, and being individually employed by an unrelated employer and directly subject to the economic/social grindstone. (why are you wasting time on fall protection? why are you asking for a mask just to drill some holes in concrete? try being a man!)

The former is going to happen informally regardless of what the law says, but I agree the law should be more conductive to it. The latter is fraught with misaligned incentives, and is mainly what people are reacting to. If workers' economic power were generally rising, the whole topic would be essentially moot. But economically empowered workers are generally impossible due to that rarely questioned policy of continual monetary stimulus and other business-uber-alles regulation. Hence the specific concern about working conditions and workers' rights.