Washington Enacts New Air Quality Protections For Workers

OLYMPIA, WA — Washington labor officials announced emergency rules Friday mandating employers to take extra steps to ensure their workers' health when wildfire smoke seriously degrades air quality. Washington is already under a wildfire state of emergency, and the Department of Natural Resources has recorded twice as many fires than average for this time of year.

Last September, a historic "supermassive" smoke plume from fires in California and Oregon pushed air quality readings reached hazardous levels across the state for nearly a week.

Effective immediately, the Department of Labor & Industries is mandating additional health and safety measures for all jobs at risk of breathing in hazardous air, including the construction and agricultural sectors. Washington is only the second state to enact worker protections linked to air quality, following similar rules adopted in California in 2019. Last week, L&I added new protections for outdoor workers during extreme heat events.

"This wildfire season is shaping up to be even worse than last year," said Joel Sacks, director of L&I. "We're establishing these emergency rules to protect employees who have to work outside, breathing in smoky air all day long."

Wildfire smoke contains an array of harmful chemicals, gases and particles. Air quality stations monitor the concentration of "particulate matter," which nestles deep into the lungs and can quickly irritate existing health problems and create new ones.

Five emergency rules are tied to the air quality index and must be followed when readings hit 151, classified as dangerously poor air, or when "PM 2.5" concentrations hit 55.5 micrograms per cubic meter.

Once either metric is met, employers should begin by:

• Moving work to enclosed buildings, structures, or vehicles where the air is adequately filtered.
• Moving employees to areas with lower smoke exposure.
• Reducing work intensity.
• Providing additional rest periods.
• Providing employees with respirators, such as an N95 or a KN95 disposal mask at no cost for voluntary use when levels of particulate matter are high.

Employers are also required to:

• Train employees and supervisors about wildfire smoke.
• Ensure employees showing symptoms of wildfire smoke exposure are monitored and receive medical care when necessary.
• Take actions to eliminate or reduce exposures to wildfire smoke where feasible, when levels of particulate matter are high.

L&I recommends workplaces take action to reduce risks even before the threshold is satisfied, especially for people with sensitive health conditions. Businesses, workers and residents alike can find live air quality information via AirNow or the state Department of Ecology.

State officials will work to draft a permanent version of the rules in the coming months.