Cal/OSHA has recently issued emergency regulations (Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 8, Section 5141.1) with the approval of the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) which requires employers to provide employees with protections from wildfire smoke. The requirements are imposed when the current Air Quality Index (AQI) for PM2.5 is 151 or greater, and they are currently in effect. Employers who are covered by these regulations must check the PM2.5 level for employee worksites before each shift, and periodically thereafter. Employers must also communicate wildfire smoke hazards through a system readily understandable by all affected employees.
If the current AQI is 151 or higher, the employer must use engineering controls (i.e., providing enclosed buildings, structures, or vehicles where the air is filtered), to reduce employee exposure to an AQI of less than 151. Whenever engineering controls are not feasible or do not reduce employee exposure to PM2.5 to less than a current AQI of 151, the employer must implement administrative controls, such as changing work schedules, reducing intensity of work, providing additional rest periods, or relocating work to a location where the current AQI for PM2.5 is lower.
When the current AQI for PM2.5 does not exceed 500, but is at least 151, the employer must provide respirators to all employees for voluntary use, in accordance with other relevant laws, and encourage employees to use respirators. Respirators should be NIOSH-approved devices, like N95 filtering facepiece respirators. To prevent health hazards, the respirators should be cleaned, stored, maintained and replaced.
Once the current AQI for PM2.5 exceeds 500, respirator use is required, in accordance with other relevant laws. Appendix B of these emergency regulations includes information about protection from wildfire smoke that must be provided to employees.
Since these are emergency regulations, these requirements are set to expire. If Cal/OSHA does not refile this emergency regulation by 1/19/2021, it will no longer be in effect as of 1/20/2021. However, since Cal/OSHA has already refiled these emergency regulations with the OAL twice, it is expected that they will likely refile again in the future.