Workplace safety is critical to ensuring a healthy, productive workforce. However, a line should be drawn between safety and over-zealous desire to erase all risks from a work environment. New rules proposed the state of Washington cross this line.

Outdoor work has inherent difficulties – weather, smoke, heat – which are assumed when taking on a job in commercial fishing, construction, agriculture, and more. However, they are also jobs that offer opportunities to observe the beauty of the natural world, to help nurture life, and provide for the people around those who perform the work.

The Department of Labor & Industries has proposed new rules that may make working outdoors safer but will certainly make it less pleasant and, in some cases, require a medical evaluation. 

Our state has suffered from significant wildfire smoke for the last several years. Parts of the state still have poor air quality courtesy of several fires still burning in the North Cascades. The air quality index (AQI) for Wenatchee this morning was 163, which is in the “unhealthy” range.

However, the rules proposed by L&I go well beyond reasonable safety measures. They would “encourage” employers to “implement exposure controls” and make respirator masks available at an AQI 69, which is considered “moderate” by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and make exposure controls and respirator makes mandatory at an AQI of 101, which is “may pose some challenges for people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.”

For a respirator mask to fit properly, employees must be clean shaven and wear the mask “snugly” against their faces. The proposed rules put employers in a position of infringing upon an individual’s choices about how they choose to maintain their appearance or potentially be in violation of L&I’s smoke rules.

Most people employed outdoors do not fall into the categories protected under the AQI definition outlined for 101: “unhealthy for sensitive groups.” 

Moreover, if an overly cautious employer issues respirator masks that include a canister or other breathing apparatus, to an employee who has not been medically cleared to wear it, they are doing more harm than good. We are a “more is better” culture and L&I is certainly a “more is better” agency. The philosophy of “more is better” has limits when it comes to canister respirator face masks because they are like wearing scuba gear without the underwater environment. Without medical clearance, they can be especially dangerous for the “unusually sensitive groups” cited under the AQI of 101.

Safety should always be a priority at worksites. Hi-viz vests, hardhats, ear plugs, and other forms of personal protective equipment (PPE) are often issued to people upon employment in various outdoor working conditions. The difference between those forms of PPE and respirator masks is none of them require the wearer to change their physical appearance nor do they potentially require a medical evaluation to ensure the safety of the user ahead of time.

Respirator masks are a useful tool. For people who actually need them or want them. However, forcing every member of an outdoor working crew to don a respirator mask based on an AQI reading so low it effectively applies to every person on a work crew, regardless of their physical health status.