Serious question. I know of a child who at eight years old was instructed to help the operator of a table saw guide large (8 X 4 foot) plywood sheets through it. Neither operator nor child were wearing any safety equipment, such as eye protection. Child has no previous experience operating power equipment and very limited experience with woodworking. Table saw is over 20 years old, and it is unclear what safety features it has, if any. Operator believes this was safe and appropriate, because child was holding edge of plywood furthest from the blade.
What does the community here think? Is there ever an occasion in which a young child should be allowed to help with a table saw in such a manner? What could go wrong?
Edit: Operator has provided the below diagram and photo to support the idea that this was safe and appropriate. Could you also provide specific feedback based on this? It's not certain the representation is accurate, but let's assume it is.
Edit 2: Operator has stated that he enlisted child because he could not perform the job alone, specifically because he needed someone to hold the plywood "so that it would not bind the table saw blade." Also that child did not want to help, because he was scared, but operator made him help anyway.
Edit 3: It sounds like context is pretty important here, specifically how much one can trust the operator to do the right thing. I've tried to avoid biasing the question by mentioning for example that the child is my own, or that the operator had also recently poured gasoline on an open fire (which resulted in the can itself catching fire as well as a secondary fire), or that the operator keeps insisting these are both perfectly safe and appropriate. But it sounds like it's not possible to separate the judgment of the operator from this question.