Wildfire Smoke Exposure Control Plan Template

Crews, trades, and tasks covered by this plan:

Name the work, not just the job titles. Strenuous outdoor work, work in unfiltered enclosed cabs, and post-fire ash and debris cleanup each carry a different exposure and belong in scope explicitly.

Wildfire smoke exposes outdoor workers to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) — particles 2.5 micrometres and smaller, fine enough to deposit deep in the lungs and pass into the bloodstream. Environment and Climate Change Canada bases the Air Quality Health Index on PM_2.5 alone during smoke events because it dominates the other pollutants in the index.

Workers doing heavy manual labour move several times the air volume of a person at rest, breathe more of it through the mouth, and sustain it across a full shift. The same ambient concentration therefore delivers a substantially larger dose to a working crew than the public health messaging implies.

Named source we check:

For example the Environment and Climate Change Canada AQHI for the nearest reporting community. Name one source and use it consistently — switching sources mid-event is how thresholds get argued over.

Reporting community or station used:

Who checks it:   When:

At minimum, start of shift and mid-shift once the index reaches the moderate band. Smoke can shift within an hour.

How the reading is communicated to the crew:

No Canadian jurisdiction publishes a single AQHI number that stops outdoor work. Regulators instead route wildfire smoke through the employer's general duty to identify the hazard and control it — worded as "reasonably practicable" in some jurisdictions and "every precaution reasonable in the circumstances" in others, and set by the Canada Labour Code for federally regulated employers such as rail, interprovincial trucking, and telecom. That puts the threshold in this document rather than in the regulation. The framework below is a starting point — adjust the actions to your work, then apply them without a supervisor having to argue for them on the day.

• Filtered indoor break area or site trailer with a HEPA filtration unit — location:
• Vehicle and equipment cabs kept closed with recirculation on and cabin filters current
• Work rescheduled to the cleanest hours of the day where the task allows
• Drinking water increased and rest breaks extended during high-index days
• Other engineering or administrative control:

Respirators sit at the bottom of the hierarchy of controls. Exhaust the items above before relying on them.

Stock target during a sustained smoke event: at least one disposable respirator per worker per shift, and more where workers are exerting themselves or the index sits above 7. Reused respirators are stored dry in a breathable paper bag, never a plastic one.

Quantity held on site:   Reorder trigger:   Responsible person:

Making respirators available and requiring them are treated differently under OHS regulation. Once the employer requires respiratory protection, CAN/CSA-Z94.4-18 (R2023), Selection, use, and care of respirators, and your OHS regulation bring the full program with it. A revised edition of Z94.4 is in development, so confirm which edition your jurisdiction currently references before you rely on this list. Confirm each element is in place before you make use mandatory:

• Written respiratory protection program (called a code of practice in Alberta, and forming part of the exposure control plan in British Columbia)
• Documented hazard assessment covering wildfire smoke
• Justified selection of the respirator for the hazard
• Medical clearance for each worker required to wear one
• Fit testing per CSA Z94.4 — before first use, then at least every two years, and sooner after significant weight change, major dental work, facial surgery or scarring, or any change of respirator make, model, or size. Some sectors and employer programs require it more often
• Training on use, limitations, seal checks, and storage
• Clean-shaven requirement enforced where facial hair crosses the sealing surface, with shaving within 12 to 24 hours of wear
• Maintenance, inspection, and storage records

Fit testing provider:   Booked for:

Book spring testing while a fit tester can still be scheduled inside a week rather than a month.

Discard a disposable respirator when breathing through it becomes noticeably harder, when it is damp from sweat or exhaled moisture, when it is visibly soiled or deformed, when the straps have lost tension, or when the worker can no longer get a good seal check. In an occupational setting a respirator that has lost its seal is finished regardless of hours worn.

• Pre-season toolbox talk: what the AQHI means, where to look it up, how to seal-check a respirator, when to shave, and who to tell about symptoms
• Wildfire smoke added as a named hazard in the site hazard assessment, alongside heat and cold
• Daily readings and actions recorded on the supervisor check sheet (page 2) and retained
• Fit test records, medical clearances, and training records retained on file

Training delivered by:   Date:

Records retained by:   Retention period:

This plan is reviewed at least annually before wildfire season, and after any smoke event in which a threshold was applied, a worker reported symptoms, or a control did not work as written. Record what changed.