CLIMATEWIRE | In 2023, as wildfire smoke drifted from Canada into vast regions of the United States, it triggered a significant response from national safety authorities. They initiated the drafting of guidelines aimed at safeguarding outdoor workers, who are facing an increasing threat due to pervasive smoke exposure.
Currently, these experts have been placed on administrative leave.
This has created a significant gap in the federal health management concerning the smoke from wildfires that recently enveloped the Midwest. The sweeping firings during the administration of President Donald Trump have cast doubts on whether the comprehensive 350-page report, produced post the 2023 wildfires, will ever be completed. This completion is crucial for the implementation of the worker protection recommendations contained within.
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Approximately 80 individuals involved in the initial drafting of the wildfire assessment are facing layoffs from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services that focuses on preventing workplace injuries and fatalities.
The 2023 report explicitly states that its contents should not be referenced until finalized, a process that requires peer review. Without completion, health advocates are concerned that employers will not be adequately informed on how to shield the health of an estimated 20 million workers increasingly at risk from wildfire smoke.
“The issue of smoke from wildfires is growing larger, and the absence of available experts who understand how to protect workers is a significant loss,” commented Rebecca Reindel, who heads the occupational health and safety efforts at the AFL-CIO.
The NIOSH cuts are part of a broad restructuring within the Department of Health Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., aligning with Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. This restructure has led to around 10,000 department workers receiving reduction-in-force notices, including numerous environmental health specialists.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which incorporates NIOSH, had its entire National Center for Environmental Health put on administrative leave. This included staff working on issues related to asthma, air pollution, and specifically, wildfire smoke.
This left them unavailable to assist local health departments, medical professionals, and concerned parents when wildfire smoke spread into Midwest communities in June.
At that time, a specialist on leave expressed to POLITICO’s E&E News, “It feels like we are abandoning them to manage this crisis alone, when we should be there to assist.”
Their layoff notices were rescinded a week later.
Some NIOSH staff, including those specializing in personal protective equipment, firefighting, and black lung disease, have been recalled to duty. However, the wildfire smoke experts have not been reinstated.
The 2023 smoke incidents prompted a crucial realization at NIOSH: wildfires impact not just firefighters but all workers who spend their days outdoors and cannot escape the smoke.
“We recognized that many outdoor workers are not involved in firefighting yet have no escape from the smoke,” a NIOSH expert shared anonymously due to uncertain job status.
In 2023, a team of 80 NIOSH staff began researching and drafting guidelines to ensure the safety of farmworkers and other outdoor laborers, a project initiated by then-Health Secretary Xavier Becerra focused on the health impacts of extreme heat and wildfire smoke.
When the draft recommendations were released in September 2024, it marked the first federal document to address smoke exposure across various worker categories comprehensively.
The draft included essential safety measures for smoky conditions, like determining unhealthy air quality levels, adjusting work hours, and selecting effective masks or respirators.
Despite the urgency, the document’s finalization was halted when the team members were placed on administrative leave.
“We were prioritizing its completion this year, knowing that these smoke events will continue,” the expert added.
With only a few NIOSH employees left with some knowledge on respirators or smoke protection, none possess the expertise to complete the document.
The importance of finalizing these recommendations was highlighted by Washington Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat, in a recent report. Without federal guidance, essential updates to Washington’s Wildfire Smoke Rule might not occur, impacting worker safety.
Moreover, finalized federal guidelines would aid California in enforcing its regulations to protect workers in smoky conditions, noted Michael Méndez, a professor at the University of California, Irvine. State laws require employers to adjust safety measures based on air quality, which, without clear federal guidelines, could lead to misinformed safety practices.
“A finalized report and the availability of NIOSH staff to explain and translate it for workers would be crucial for their safety,” Méndez emphasized.
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