Washington wildfire smoke workplace requirements
WAC 296-820 PM2.5 tiers from 20.5 through 555, including hand-out at 250.5 and required use at 500.4.
Washington has the earliest wildfire smoke trigger in the country. Training and information start at PM2.5 20.5, a day that still looks clear enough to work. From there the rule steps through five tiers, and the step people get wrong is 250.5, where you must hand a respirator to every exposed worker while use is still voluntary. Required use does not begin until 500.4.
Takeaways
- Say what each of the five PM2.5 tiers requires.
- Tell the difference between making respirators available, handing them out, and requiring them.
- Get the training done before the first smoke day rather than during it.
- Keep the training acknowledgment and the exposure reading on the same record.
Five tiers, in PM2.5 concentration
What the training has to cover
Where the PM2.5 number comes from
Putting training and exposure on one record
Frequently asked questions
- When does RestShade require a site log in Washington? Training and communication start at PM2.5 20.5. RestShade marks a log required at PM2.5 35.5 and above, aligned with Oregon. Between 20.5 and 35.4, keep training current; you may get a soft alert if it is overdue.
- PM2.5 20.5 barely looks smoky. Is training really due? Yes. Washington sets the information and training obligation at 20.5, which is well below the point where most people would call a day smoky. That is deliberate, and it is why the training belongs on the calendar before fire season.
- Does an N95 satisfy the 555 tier? No. At 555 you need an assigned protection factor of 25 or greater. A filtering facepiece N95 has an assigned protection factor of 10, so this tier means a half-mask elastomeric with P100 cartridges or a powered air-purifying respirator.
- Do I need a written respiratory protection program at 250.5? No. Use is still voluntary at 250.5, so the full program is not triggered. You do need to supply the respirator and provide the voluntary-use information.
- How often does training repeat? At least annually, and again before exposure for anyone newly assigned. Retrain when the procedures or the communication system change.