In June, Department of Labor & Industries Director Joel Sacks was interviewed on TVW’s The Impact about the new emergency heat and wildfire smoke rules that were implemented by L&I earlier this summer. Director Sacks gave background on the rules’ development and changes from similar emergency rules that were issued last year.

You can watch the interview on TVW here.

As we wrote previously, the 2022 emergency wildfire smoke rule requires employers to implement smoke exposure controls and provide masks for voluntary use by outdoor employees when smoke levels reach an Air Quality Index (AQI) 101. When smoke reaches AQI 500, employers are required to enroll employees in a complete respiratory program and require employees to wear robust respirators. The heat exposure rule enhances existing outdoor worker protections by requiring employers to provide employees cool down rest periods every 2 hours when temperatures reach 89°F, maintain communications with workers in the field, and monitor employees for heat-related illnesses during shifts, among other things.

Director Sacks discussed how the triggers for mandatory measures were lowered compared to the 2021 versions of the rules in response to comments from worker advocacy organizations. He also discussed how the new rules were meant to simplify when mandatory measures are required and to clarify that employers are required to anticipate employee safety needs ahead of time. The director also stated that previous years’ workers’ compensation data made it clear that years with more hot weather increased injury claims.

Finally, Director Sacks was asked why L&I continued to use emergency rules rather than permanent rulemaking for 2022 heat and smoke rules. Director Sacks stated that the agency wanted to make sure there were some stop gap rules in place for 2022, and that they intended to use data from this year to help inform permanent rules, hopefully to be promulgated in 2023.

The permanent rulemaking process for both the heat and wildfire smoke rules are ongoing. A new stakeholder meeting for the heat rule was held on August 4, and the meeting was recorded and is available on TVW. Another heat rule stakeholder meeting is scheduled for August 31 at 1:00pm, and you can register here to attend. L&I is also hosting two stakeholder meetings for the permanent wildfire smoke rule on August 10. You can register for the afternoon meeting (1–4 pm) here, or for an evening meeting (6–9 pm) here.