A sprinkler waters a field amidst wildfire smoke in Aumsville on Sept. 8, 2020. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
Oregon workers would get more breaks in high temperatures and respirators to protect them from wildfire smoke under new rules the state’s workplace safety agency proposed this week.
The proposed rules cover exposure to heat and wildfire smoke. They come after Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued temporary rules last July after a Marion County farmworker died while working at a St. Paul nursery in triple-digit temperatures during a heat wave.
The state’s proposed rules don’t require employers to stop outdoor work above a certain temperature, something the agency lacks the legal authority to do, spokesman Aaron Corvin said.
But they require employers to develop a rest break schedule based on the heat index, which takes into account temperature and humidity, as well as providing shade and cool water to employees. Employees must be able to drink at least 32 ounces of cool water per hour at no cost to them when the heat index exceeds 80 degrees, the rules say.
The rules offer several possible rest break schedules that must be implemented when the heat index reaches 90 degrees. At minimum, workers would receive at least 15 minutes rest every hour when the heat index is above 100 degrees.
“Ours is a comprehensive approach – not just work-rest schedules – but also the other important steps: water, shade, acclimatization, and so on. These are interrelated, not isolated, safety procedures and controls,” Corvin said in an email.
The wildfire rules require employers to provide respirators to employees if they’re exposed to high levels of particulate matter in the air – generally the main pollutant in wildfire smoke. Employers are also required to notify employees when the air quality is below certain thresholds.
OSHA expected to adopt the rules in April 2022, and will hold public hearings in late February and early March on both sets of rules. Details on the hearings and how to comment are available on the OSHA website for both heat and wildfire smoke rules.
-Rachel Alexander
