The Smoke Day Work Decision SOP

Purpose

This procedure turns a smoky morning into a decision made from a number, the same way no matter who is running dispatch. It guarantees that the PM2.5 Air Quality Index is read before outdoor work starts and re-read as the day goes, that heavy outdoor work comes off the board first, that respirators are handed out the way the federal standard allows, and that the day leaves a record. Without it, smoke days get decided by how the sky looks, and the crew doing the hardest work breathes the most smoke for the longest.

For what PM2.5 does, how the AQI is built and what the state rules say, see related: Wildfire Smoke and Outdoor Work. This SOP carries the shop's own thresholds.

Scope

Covers: every workday when the current or forecast PM2.5 AQI at any scheduled job is 101 or higher, for all outdoor work and for indoor work in attics, vented crawlspaces, garages and open structures.

Does not cover:

• Evacuation orders and work near an active fire. When officials order an area cleared, crews leave; no AQI reading overrides that.
• Post-fire ash cleanup, which is a restoration job with its own exposure and controls.
• Heat. A smoke day that is also a hot day runs both procedures. See related: Heat Stress + Jobsite Hydration Reference.

The shop's default thresholds, a starting point to tune, apply where state law is not stricter. Where it is, the state rule wins: California's 8 CCR 5141.1 duties begin at 151, Oregon's rule at 101, and Washington's lower still.

Roles and responsibilities

Procedure

1. Check the forecast and flag jobs before dispatch. By 6:00 a.m. the office reads the PM2.5 AQI forecast and current value for each job area on EPA's AirNow or its Fire and Smoke Map and marks every job as heavy outdoor, light outdoor, or indoor in a closed space. Acceptance: each job on the board carries an exertion flag and the forecast value. What wrong looks like: a tear-off dispatched with no flag on a day forecast at 160. Stop rule: hold that truck until the job is flagged. Hazard: none at this step, it is a desk decision, but it decides who breathes what for the next eight hours.

2. Take the start-of-shift reading at the job. Before work begins, the lead tech records the current PM2.5 AQI for the job location, the source (an official monitor and its distance, or a corrected sensor on the smoke map) and the time. Acceptance: reading, source and time logged before any tool comes off the truck. What wrong looks like: no monitor or sensor within about 15 miles, or data that will not load. Stop rule: use the nearest available reading and treat the job as one category higher than it shows. Hazard: smoke cuts visibility on the drive; headlights on, following distance doubled, and the cab air on recirculate with windows up.

3. Apply the threshold table to each job. Compare the reading to the table and assign each job go, adjust (work changed or shortened) or reschedule, and tell the office. Acceptance: every job has a disposition that matches the table row for its reading and exertion flag. What wrong looks like: heavy work continuing at 160 because the customer is waiting. Stop rule: only the owner can approve an exception, and it is written on the log with a reason. Hazard: none physical; the hazard is created by a wrong disposition, which is why the table, not the customer's urgency, decides.

4. Check for sensitive workers privately. At 101 or higher, the lead asks each crew member, out of earshot of others, whether they have asthma, heart or lung disease, are pregnant, or have symptoms right now. Anyone who says yes moves to indoor work in a closed space. Acceptance: every worker answered and every yes is reassigned. The log records only "reassigned per smoke policy", never the condition. What wrong looks like: a worker who will not say. Stop rule: offer indoor work to anyone who asks for it without a reason. Hazard: a worker with asthma keeps the rescue inhaler on their person, not in the truck.

5. Offer respirators the way the federal standard allows. At 101 or higher, offer NIOSH-approved N95s for voluntary use with the information in Appendix D of 29 CFR 1910.134 on file for each user. Requiring a respirator is allowed only for workers in the shop's full written program with medical evaluation and fit testing. Acceptance: each wearer passes a user seal check, no air leaking at the edges on a sharp exhale. What wrong looks like: facial hair under the seal, or a leak the worker cannot fix. Stop rule: that worker is counted as unprotected and placed by the table as if no mask were worn. Hazard: a respirator adds breathing effort, so on a hot day it shortens how long a worker can go between breaks; replace a mask that is wet or hard to breathe through.

6. Move the work, not just the worker. Indoors means a closed home with windows shut and the HVAC running with a filter, or a vehicle with windows up and the cabin air on recirculate. An attic, a vented crawlspace, an open garage or a pole barn exchanges air with outdoors and counts as outdoor work. Acceptance: every reassigned job is in a space that meets the definition. What wrong looks like: a crew sent "inside" to an attic on a 170 day. Stop rule: reclassify the job as outdoor and re-run step 3. Hazard: an attic on a smoke day adds the attic's own heat and the smoke together.

7. Re-check through the day. Take a new reading every two hours, and every hour once the reading is within 20 points of the next threshold, plus on arrival at each new job. Acceptance: logged readings at those intervals with no gap longer than the rule allows. What wrong looks like: a reading that crosses into a higher row. Stop rule: stop the affected work at that reading, re-run step 3, and call the office. Hazard: stopping mid-task leaves open roofs, open excavations and unsecured materials; secure them before leaving (tarp the roof, cover or barricade holes) rather than walking off.

8. Watch for symptoms the whole shift. Anyone with wheezing, chest tightness, worsening cough or eye and throat irritation moves to filtered air and does no more outdoor work that day. Acceptance: no worker continues outdoor work after reporting a symptom. What wrong looks like: chest pain, a racing or irregular heartbeat, confusion or severe shortness of breath. Stop rule: call 911, stay with the worker in filtered air, and notify the owner. Hazard: smoke symptoms and heat illness overlap; treat confusion as an emergency whichever it is.

9. Resume only when the number allows it, and re-walk the site. Outdoor work that was stopped restarts when two readings at least an hour apart both sit below the threshold that stopped it. Acceptance: two qualifying readings logged before restart. What wrong looks like: a single dip followed by a rise. Stop rule: stay stopped. Hazard: the crew returning to a roof or ladder after a stop meets surfaces dusted with ash and possibly damp, which are slick; inspect footing, ladder feet and the tie-off before anyone climbs, and re-check heat conditions, which have climbed while the crew waited.

The record this produces

Each job gets a smoke log on smoke days, attached to the work order:

SMOKE LOG   Job 4471, fence install, Elm Rd
Thresholds: 101 notify / 151 heavy off /
            201 outdoor off / 301 stop
Time   AQI   Source          Action
06:00  140f  AirNow fcst     heavy job, flagged
07:05  138   monitor 6 mi    go, N95s offered
09:00  149   monitor 6 mi    within 20, hourly
10:00  158   monitor 6 mi    STOP digging
10:20  --    --              holes covered, left
13:00  171   monitor 6 mi    rescheduled
Notes: one worker reassigned per policy
       one worker no seal, counted unprotected

The office keeps the logs for the season. The owner reads them weekly during smoke season to see whether the thresholds are working, and they are what the shop shows a state inspector or its own attorney if a worker later reports illness.

Worked pass

A fence install in a state with no smoke rule, three-person crew: Jo (lead), Ana and Ray. Shop thresholds as above.

• Step 1, pass. Forecast 140 at 6:00. The office flagged the job heavy outdoor because the day was post-hole digging.
• Step 2, pass. 7:05 reading 138 from an official monitor 6 miles away, logged before unloading.
• Step 3, pass. 138 is in the 101 to 150 row, so heavy work could go with N95s offered and sensitive workers moved.
• Step 4, pass. Ana said yes privately. The office swapped her onto a solo indoor service route in closed homes. The log reads "reassigned per smoke policy".
• Step 5, fail for one worker. Jo passed the seal check. Ray's beard broke the seal and he could not stop the leak, so he was counted unprotected. At 138 the table still allowed him to keep working, and the log records him as unprotected so every later decision that day treats him as wearing no mask.
• Step 7, the reading that crossed. 9:00 read 149, within 20 points of 151, so checks went hourly. 10:00 read 158, into the 151 to 200 row, where heavy outdoor work stops. Jo stopped digging, covered the six open post holes with plywood and stakes, and called the office at 10:05.
• Step 3, re-run. Heavy work off; no light outdoor task remained on this job, so the rest went to reschedule. Jo and Ray spent the afternoon on shop inventory inside the closed building.
• Step 9, not reached. At 13:00 the reading was 171, so there were no two qualifying readings and the job stayed rescheduled.

Re-reading the thresholds against this pass: if the job had been in Oregon, 138 is already past that state's 101 trigger, so Oregon's own assessment, training and respirator steps would have applied from the first reading, not only the shop's table.

References

• EPA, AirNow and the Fire and Smoke Map (current PM2.5 AQI)
• 29 CFR 1910.134, respiratory protection, including Appendix D for voluntary use
• California 8 CCR 5141.1; Oregon OAR 437-002-1081; Washington WAC 296-820
• See related: Wildfire Smoke and Outdoor Work
• See related: Heat Stress + Jobsite Hydration Reference