Farmworker Smoke and Excessive Heat Protection Act of 2025
The Farmworker Smoke and Excessive Heat Protection Act of 2025 would create a federal occupational safety standard (under OSHA) to protect farmworkers from wildfire smoke and extreme heat. It requires an immediate, interim standard upon enactment and a later, more comprehensive final standard to be issued within a short deadline. The protections include providing appropriate protective equipment (such as N95 or N100 respirators), mandatory use of that equipment at dangerous air-quality or heat levels, access to water and cooling for heat exposure, mandated rest breaks in shaded areas, and worker training in their language. The bill also directs the Secretary of Labor to develop final, scientifically informed standards that are at least as protective as any state standard. It emphasizes collaboration with community organizations to reach hard-to-reach workers and to provide training materials in multiple languages, including Indigenous languages. Enforcement would mirror existing OSHA standards, including protections against retaliation for exercising safety rights. In short, the bill aims to reduce health risks and fatalities among farmworkers by establishing stronger, federally enforceable protections for wildfire smoke and extreme heat, with steps to ensure compliance, education, and accessibility of protections for workers who may face language or geographic barriers.
Key Points
- 1Establishes a federal occupational safety and health standard to protect farmworkers from wildfire smoke and excessive heat, with an immediate interim standard and a later final standard.
- 2Interim requirements: employers must provide protective equipment (N95 or N100 respirators or equivalent) for wildfire smoke and mandatory use at extremely dangerous air-quality levels; provide water and cooling facilities for extreme heat; mandatory rest breaks (at least 10 minutes every 2 hours) in shaded areas; and worker training in a language they understand.
- 3Final standard: to be promulgated within 90 days after enactment; must provide protections at least as strong as the most protective state standards and explain health impacts of wildfire smoke and excessive heat.
- 4Training and multilingual outreach: the law requires training materials and opportunities for workers in a language they understand, with efforts to reach hard-to-reach workers (including via community organizations and alternative languages, including Indigenous languages).
- 5Enforcement and anti-retaliation: the initial standard and the eventual final standard would be enforced like other OSHA standards, with protections against discrimination under OSHA rules for workers who exercise safety rights.