Farmworker Safety Bill Mandates N95 Masks and 10-Minute Breaks During Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke

This new legislation, officially the Farmworker Smoke and Excessive Heat Protection Act of 2025, immediately sets up safety requirements for agricultural employers to protect farmworkers from the growing threats of wildfire smoke and extreme heat. Essentially, the bill says that if you’re a farm boss, you now have specific, immediate responsibilities to keep your employees safe when the weather turns dangerous. Key specifics: employers must provide NIOSH-certified gear like N95 or N100 masks when air quality is bad, and offer cooling stations and water during excessive heat events.

The Immediate Rx: Gear and Breaks

Starting the day this law passes, agricultural operations have to follow an “initial standard.” This isn't just a suggestion; it’s a mandate. When the air quality or heat hits a level the Secretary of Labor deems dangerous, employers must provide the necessary protective equipment. Think of it like this: if the heat is spiking and dangerous, workers must have access to cooling stations and water. If wildfire smoke is choking the air, they must be given proper masks. Crucially, if the conditions get extremely dangerous, using this protective gear becomes mandatory for workers. This provision directly tackles the growing public health crisis caused by longer fire seasons and deadly heat waves, like the one that killed a farmworker in Oregon in 2021.

Training and the Right to Rest

It’s not enough to just hand out a mask. The bill requires employers to train workers on how to use the equipment correctly and explain the health risks of working unprotected. This training must be provided in a language the worker understands, ensuring that language barriers don’t become safety hazards. Perhaps the biggest change for workers is the mandatory rest break provision: once the air quality or heat reaches a dangerous level, farmworkers are entitled to at least 10 minutes of rest every two hours. These breaks must happen in a shaded area or a place where their exposure to the hazard—be it smoke or heat—is reduced. For the employer, this means figuring out how to schedule these breaks while maintaining productivity, which introduces new compliance costs beyond just the equipment.

Setting the Permanent Standard

The initial rules are just a stopgap. The Secretary of Labor has 90 days from the law’s enactment to start developing a permanent, comprehensive safety standard. This permanent rule must offer protection that is at least as strong as the initial rules and cannot offer less protection than the strictest smoke or heat standard already adopted by any state. This means the federal floor is being set high, likely based on existing standards in states like California or Washington. For employers who might be struggling to figure out how to comply, the bill requires the Department of Labor to provide technical assistance and sample training materials, even working with community groups to reach farmworkers in hard-to-contact areas, including providing materials in indigenous languages. While this offers clarity, agricultural operations should anticipate that this permanent rule will lock in the new safety requirements and associated costs for the long term.