Heat and Smoke Protection Rules Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. In Olympia, there have been updates to old heat-exposure rules and new rules in the works to protect farm workers from wildfire smoke exposure.
Washington Farm Bureau Safety Director, Dominique Damian says the wildfire smoke exposure rule is in its final stages …
DAMIAN … “L&I just completed their last stakeholder meeting and I believe they’re trying to have the permanent rule out by fall. So, we should be expecting L&I to take all the comments that the stakeholders made and turn that into a permanent rule that’s usable by employers.”
This is something, Damian says farmers are aware of and have been working on …
DAMIAN … “Unfortunately, that is the way things are going. The wildfire smoke is more and more common it’s not just protecting crops, it’s protecting the people that harvest them and plant them.”
For the details on both rules, Damian says L&I has plenty of information on their website …
DAMIAN … “And then of course, our members can come to us, one of our Farm Bureau Safety. We’ve already got training material out there for the employer and for the employee, like a short safety meeting for the heat exposure, and we’re already working on the wildfire smoke so we can be prepared when that one comes out.”
Damian says we need to protect the workers we have which takes understanding the rules and implementing them as they are.
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Questions? Farm Bureau members can contact their Safety Directors at … https://wsfb.com/staff-directory .
Go to https://www.lni.wa.gov/safety-health/safety-topics/topics/wildfire-smoke for information on the wildfire smoke safety rule being worked on … OR go to
https://www.lni.wa.gov/safety-health/safety-rules/rulemaking-stakeholder-information/ambient-heat-exposure-rulemaking to find out more about the changes to the outdoor heat-exposure rules.
