Combined Burden of Heat and Particulate Matter Air Quality in WA Agriculture

Austin, Elena; Kasner, Edward J.; Seto, Edmund; Spector, June T.

doi:10.1080/1059924x.2020.1795032

Cited by 17 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Of special concern are people who work long shifts outdoors, such as farmworkers [79]. In many cases, low income, limited access to information, healthcare, and immigration status increase the vulnerability of these populations to smoke exposure and other hazards [80].…”

Section: Vulnerability: Social and Built Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fires that matter: reconceptualizing fire risk to include interactions between humans and the natural environment

Iglesias

Stavros

Balch

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Increasing fire impacts across North America are associated with climate and vegetation change, greater exposure through development expansion, and less-well studied but salient social vulnerabilities. We are at a critical moment in the contemporary human-fire relationship, with an urgent need to transition from emergency response to proactive measures that build sustainable communities, protect human health, and restore the use of fire necessary for maintaining the health of ecosystems. We propose an integrated risk factor that includes fire and smoke hazard, exposure, and vulnerability as a method to identify ‘fires that matter’, that is, fires that have potentially devastating impacts on our communities. This approach enables pathways to delineate and prioritise science-informed planning strategies most likely to increase community resilience to fires.

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Section: Vulnerability: Social and Built Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fires that matter: reconceptualizing fire risk to include interactions between humans and the natural environment

Iglesias

Stavros

Balch

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Outdoor workers other than those working in construction are impacted by wildfire smoke also. For example, an analysis of agricultural workers in WA also found substantial overlap between the times of the year and locations in which the numbers of agricultural workers and PM 2.5 concentrations are highest (Austin et al 2021). In that study, an average of 3,023 (King County) and 33,755 (Yakima County) people worked in agriculture during the 3 rd quarter (July-September) between the years 2010-2018.…”

Section: Potential Economic Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…The continued influence of climate change is projected to increase wildfire-related PM 2.5 as well as the associated effects on human health (Ford et al 2018). As others have noted, workers such as agricultural and construction workers are at higher risk for wildfire smoke exposure, due to their prolonged outdoor work hours (Postma 2020;Austin et al 2021). This analysis supports the conclusion that construction workers in WA face exposure to wildfire smoke.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In conjunction with a growing construction workforce, seasonal trends in that workforce coincide with the wildfire season (summer in the Pacific Northwest), adding to the overall health burden. Exposure to or the health effects from wildfire smoke have been described in the general public (Shusterman et al 1993;Reisen et al 2015;Liu et al 2015), agricultural workers (Austin et al 2021), and wildland firefighters (Shusterman et al 1993;Slaughter et al 2004;Reinhardt and Ottmar 2004;Stefanidou et al 2008;Aisbett et al 2012;Adetona et al 2013;Wu et al 2021). However, no studies we are aware of have examined potential exposure to wildfire pollution among construction workers, especially as it is defined with PM 2.5 thresholds under new wildfire smoke worker protection rules.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Potential impacts of Washington State’s wildfire worker protection rule on construction workers

Zuidema

Austin

Cohen

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Driven by climate change, wildfires are increasing in frequency, duration, and intensity across the Western United States. Outdoor workers are being exposed to increasing wildfire-related particulate matter and smoke. Recognizing this emerging risk, Washington adopted an emergency rule and is presently engaged in creating a permanent rule to protect outdoor workers from wildfire smoke exposure. While there are growing bodies of literature on the exposure to and health effects of wildfire smoke in the general public and wildland firefighters, there is a gap in knowledge about wildfire smoke exposure among outdoor workers generally, and construction workers specifically, a large category of outdoor workers in Washington totaling 200,000 people. In this study, we link several data sources including state-collected employment data and national ambient air quality data to gain insight into the risk of wildfire exposure among construction workers in Washington. Our results indicate the number of poor air quality days has increased in August and September in recent years. We also observed that over the last decade these months with the greatest potential for wildfire smoke exposure coincide with an annual peak in construction employment that was typically 9.4 to 42.7% larger across Washington counties (one county was 75.8%). Lastly, we considered different air quality thresholds and retrospectively tallied days in Washington that would have triggered rules protecting workers from wildfire smoke. We found the "encouraged" threshold of the Washington emergency rule (20.5 μg/m3) would result in 5.5 times more days subject to the wildfire rule on average across all Washington counties compared to its "required" threshold (55.5 μg/m3), and in 2020 the rule could have created demand for 1.35 million N-95 filtering facepiece respirators among construction workers. These results have important implications for both employers and policy makers as rules are developed. We also discuss the potential economic and policy implications of wildfire smoke exposure, exposure control strategies, and data gaps that would improve our understanding of construction worker exposure to wildfire smoke.

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“…A recent study found that the largest agricultural populations in Washington tended to be located in counties with the greatest high heat and PM 2.5 exposures, and these exposures tended to coincide with months with the highest numbers of agricultural workers (harvest season during July–September). However, Washington has no occupational exposure rules specific to PM 2.5 during wildfire smoke events (Austin, Kasner, Seto, & Spector, 2020). The particular wildfire smoke event discussed here shows the importance of enhancing capacity and access to clean indoor air spaces and personal protection during wildfire events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Impact Assessment of the 2020 Washington State Wildfire Smoke Episode: Excess Health Burden Attributable to Increased PM_2.5 Exposures and Potential Exposure Reductions

et al. 2021

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Major wildfires starting in the summer of 2020 along the west coast of the United States made PM 2.5 concentrations in this region rank among the highest in the world. Washington was impacted both by active wildfires in the state and aged wood smoke transported from fires in Oregon and California. This study aims to estimate the magnitude and disproportionate spatial impacts of increased PM 2.5 concentrations attributable to these wildfires on population health. Daily PM 2.5 concentrations for each county before and during the 2020 Washington wildfire episode (September 7–19) were obtained from regulatory air monitors. Utilizing previously established concentration‐response function (CRF) of PM 2.5 (CRF of total PM 2.5 ) and odds ratio (OR) of wildfire smoke days (OR of wildfire smoke days) for mortality, we estimated excess mortality attributable to the increased PM 2.5 concentrations in Washington. On average, daily PM 2.5 concentrations increased 97.1 μg/m 3 during the wildfire smoke episode. With CRF of total PM 2.5 , the 13‐day exposure to wildfire smoke was estimated to lead to 92.2 (95% CI: 0.0, 178.7) more all‐cause mortality cases; with OR of wildfire smoke days, 38.4 (95% CI: 0.0, 93.3) increased all‐cause mortality cases and 15.1 (95% CI: 0.0, 27.9) increased respiratory mortality cases were attributable to the wildfire smoke episode. The potential impact of avoiding elevated PM 2.5 exposures during wildfire events significantly reduced the mortality burden. Because wildfire smoke episodes are likely to impact the Pacific Northwest in future years, continued preparedness and mitigations to reduce exposures to wildfire smoke are necessary to avoid excess health burden.

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Combined Burden of Heat and Particulate Matter Air Quality in WA Agriculture

Cited by 17 publications

References 17 publications

Fires that matter: reconceptualizing fire risk to include interactions between humans and the natural environment

Fires that matter: reconceptualizing fire risk to include interactions between humans and the natural environment

Potential impacts of Washington State’s wildfire worker protection rule on construction workers

Health Impact Assessment of the 2020 Washington State Wildfire Smoke Episode: Excess Health Burden Attributable to Increased PM_2.5 Exposures and Potential Exposure Reductions

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Combined Burden of Heat and Particulate Matter Air Quality in WA Agriculture

Cited by 17 publications

References 17 publications

Fires that matter: reconceptualizing fire risk to include interactions between humans and the natural environment

Fires that matter: reconceptualizing fire risk to include interactions between humans and the natural environment

Potential impacts of Washington State’s wildfire worker protection rule on construction workers

Health Impact Assessment of the 2020 Washington State Wildfire Smoke Episode: Excess Health Burden Attributable to Increased PM2.5 Exposures and Potential Exposure Reductions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Health Impact Assessment of the 2020 Washington State Wildfire Smoke Episode: Excess Health Burden Attributable to Increased PM_2.5 Exposures and Potential Exposure Reductions