California worker safety regulators March 21 voted to push emergency regulatory protections for outdoor workers affected by dangerous smoke cause by wildfires.
California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board said it would ask the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to develop emergency regulations by July, and then put together a more concrete regulation in the future. Cal/OSHA currently has no specific regulations on the hazard of wildfire smoke to certain outdoor workers.
The move follows the record-breaking 2018 wildfire season that burned more than 875,000 acres in state-responsibility areas, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. ...