They do, but in no way it’s a high schooler qualified for it. There’s an inherent risk that I consider all minors to be incapable of consenting to accept. Turn the wrong valve, and you’ll turn a controlled furnace into a raging fire. The operator needs to not only accept and understand that risk, but to keep a cool head and stop a safety incident from happening or getting worse. Having a kid in that position not only jeopardizes their safety, but the safety of everyone else there too.

When we do hazard analysis and consider the safety measures a plant needs, we don’t usually credit the operators as a layer of safety, but we do assume they have their wits about them when we consider what’s credible to happen. We don’t consider the possibility of them tossing gas onto a fire for instance. I don’t think a kid would do that, but it’s not out of question to think that a kid could accidentally make a situation worse compared to an adult worker.

Just because you don’t need more than a high school degree for a job didn’t mean the job doesn’t command respect. I find it’s the norm for operators to be way more knowledgeable than the new engineer fresh from college. Their experience gives them an intimate know how that is on par with studying the subject.