Working in Poor Air Quality Conditions

British Columbia has almost 300 active wildfires that are plaguing the province. The hot and dry weather conditions have made the situation much worse, along with lightning strikes causing even more fires to start.

While in Saskatchewan there are 161 active wildfires and in Alberta there are 68, these fires are also from the hot and dry weather conditions.

The smoke from the BC, Saskatchewan and Alberta fires has been pushing into Alberta creating very poor air quality and air advisory warnings from Environment Canada to be issued. The Air Quality Health Index indicates that air quality is forecast as a 7 (High Risk) on Monday morning, and set to be a 9 this afternoon. Moving into the week it should drop to a moderate risk of 5.

Environment Canada recommends reducing or rescheduling strenuous activities outdoors if possible. People, especially the elderly and children, may experience symptoms such as increased coughing, throat irritation, dry/burning eyes, and headaches. People with pre-existing conditions such as COPD, heart conditions and asthma may experience symptoms that are worse than normal.

During poor air quality conditions please see the following suggestions:

• Limit outdoor activities as much as possible. Reschedule activities for days with a low risk rating.
• Do not exercise outdoors, try going to a gym or indoor facility to limit exposure to smokey air.
• Keep windows and doors closed to prevent outdoor air from coming inside as much as possible.
• Turn off air conditioning units that pull air from outdoors into the building.
• Limit strenuous outdoor activities whenever possible.
• Limit outdoor time for children and limit the activities to prevent heavy breathing when outside.
• Ensure to take all medications as prescribed for medical conditions, such as COPD, heart conditions and asthma, to control symptoms as much as possible.
• If symptoms from poor air quality persist or become increasing worse over time without improvement, seek medical attention.
• Consider adjusting work schedules or implementing controls to reduce worker exposure during periods of poor air quality, based on hazard assessments and worker health.
• Take regular scheduled breaks if you must work outdoors and limit strenuous activities, such as manual lifting, for another day of possible.
• Wear appropriate respiratory protection as required by the hazard assessment. Employers must provide training and ensure workers are competent in the use of respiratory protective equipment when exposure to poor air quality or airborne hazards exists.

We at Safety Ahead hold the people and first responders effected by the wildfires in our thoughts and hope the situations in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan can be brought under control soon.

For information on how to develop a Respiratory Code of Practice, Emergency Response plans and more, please call us at Safety Ahead for assistance at 780-473-4772! We would love nothing more than to help you keep your workers safe!

Photo Credits:

CBC News