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The Oregon Occupational Health and Safety Administration will hold public hearings about the new excessive heat and wildfire smoke rules currently proposed.

At the start of the month, OSHA released the final draft rules on the excessive heat and wildfire smoke. The rules are now within the public comment period that will close on March 18.

Public hearing dates are:

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During the upcoming hearings, a coalition that includes the Oregon AFL-CIO, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, The Oregon Environmental Council, Northwest Workers’ Justice Project, and Climate Jobs PDX will testify on the changes they want to see made to the final sets of rules.

Among removing loopholes in the rules, the coalition would like to set the trigger for the respirator requirement at an Air Quality Index of 201 instead 250, as well as the removal for the  exemptions when the work is considered “light.” It would also like to close a loophole for protecting workers from excessive heat in farmworker housing so that all farmworkers are well protected.