New state regulations for outdoor workers highlight an oft-overlooked aspect of climate change. Warming temperatures have a broad impact on air quality, exacerbating pollution and impairing working conditions.
The state Department of Labor & Industries last week adopted permanent rules for businesses with outdoor workers. The regulations, which echo temporary guidelines put in place the past two years, force employers to monitor air conditions; provide training, masks or respirators; and offer access to spaces with clean air.
Interim requirements in recent years have drawn pushback from employers. This is understandable; additional regulations can be costly, time-consuming and confusing. But concern for outdoor workers is a necessity brought about by a changing climate and the increased pollution that accompanies it.
As a study from the National Institutes of Health found: “Elevated temperatures can increase levels of air pollution, including ground-level ozone; outdoor workers have longer exposure to such air pollutants, which are linked to chronic health effects, such as respiratory diseases and allergic reaction.”
Clark County residents have experienced that in recent years, with wildfires from as far away as Canada delivering noxious smoke to urban areas. Now imagine being in a rural area near active fires and engaging in physical labor such as harvesting crops.
As Edgar Franks of farmworkers union Familias Unidas por la Justicia told The Seattle Times: “You live in poverty, you don’t have access to health care, with language barriers, access is difficult, you live in rural areas, you’re working in conditions that are also hazardous with pesticides and chemicals.”
Critics suggest that those hazards come with job, and that workers can find other employment if they can’t handle the rigors. But it is more complicated than that.
Agricultural states are facing a shortage of workers, and the American Farm Bureau Federation reported last year: “Agricultural labor has become one of the most pressing policy issues for the industry. Farmers and processing facilities have enough problems to face without having to worry about labor.”
Improving conditions and protections for workers is one method for attracting employees.
But regulations related to air quality go beyond agricultural workers. Imagine being a roofer or construction worker or wind turbine technician, working outside as temperatures reach 100 degrees and pollution intensifies. A broad range of industries that help fuel the economy are affected by changes in temperatures.
The new requirements from the Department of Labor & Industry establish benchmarks based upon the Air Quality Index, which measures the number of particulates in the air. With an AQI of 101 and higher, for example, employers are required to provide respiratory protection. Air at that level is considered unhealthy for children, the elderly and those with underlying health issues.
Valid arguments can be made about balancing the burden between employers, regulators and workers. But the broader issue is how climate change is impacting multiple economic sectors. Those impacts will only increase with the accompanying wildfires, extreme weather events and unbearable temperatures.
Such factors are well documented and have become ingrained in how we think about climate change. But air pollution and its cumulative effect on outdoor workers also will have long-term consequences.
