‘Employers should have a plan in place now and must engage workers and joint health and safety committees in the planning process’: WorkSafeBC
HR professionals across British Columbia should act immediately to avoid enforcement action as WorkSafeBC puts employers on notice over heat stress, wildfire smoke, and UV exposure risks this summer.
WorkSafeBC issued a public advisory urging employers to assess and control summer weather hazards before conditions deteriorate, warning that officers will conduct inspections this season to verify compliance.
"Heat, UV exposure and wildfire smoke pose health risks for workers, and conditions can change quickly," said Todd McDonald, head of Prevention Services at WorkSafeBC. "Don't wait for a heat wave or smoky skies to start planning for these hazards."
The regulator identified heat stress risks across a wide range of settings, including outdoor industries such as construction, agriculture, and transportation, as well as indoor environments including kitchens, warehouses, and manufacturing facilities without air conditioning.
Compounding factors include:
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high humidity
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radiant heat from equipment
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physically demanding work
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individual characteristics such as hydration status and certain medications.
WorkSafeBC directed employers to assess risks based on the specific combination of workplace conditions, job demands, and worker-level factors present in their operations.
Required controls include:
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providing cool drinking water and rest breaks
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establishing shaded or cooled recovery areas
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and scheduling strenuous work during cooler parts of the day.
Employers must also train workers to recognise early symptoms of heat stress — including excessive sweating, muscle cramps, nausea, dizziness, agitation, or confusion — and to report concerns without delay.
“Employers need to get ahead of [the heat] because it’s not going to change. Even if employers don’t think it’s affecting them now, it’s going to affect them in the next 10 or 15 years,” one expert previously told HRD. From heatwaves in traditionally temperate regions to the intensifying burden on industries reliant on manual labour, the demands on employers are escalating. August 2024 became the hottest August ever recorded, marking the end of the warmest summer on Earth since global temperature tracking began in 1880, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.
Previously, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated that more than 2.4 billion workers, or more than 70% of the total 3.4 billion global workforce, are likely exposed to excessive heat at some point during their work.
Wildfire smoke requires formal hazard controls
WorkSafeBC also directed employers to treat wildfire smoke as a formal workplace hazard, requiring monitoring of air quality forecasts, adjusted work schedules when smoke levels rise, and reduced strenuous outdoor activity where possible.
Indoor employers must ensure ventilation systems are functioning properly and filters are replaced as needed. Where respirators are provided, WorkSafeBC specified they must be approved for the hazard and that workers must be properly fit-tested — a documentation obligation that typically falls within HR's remit.
The regulator stressed that planning must be completed before conditions worsen and that joint health and safety committees must be engaged in the process. Employers without wildfire smoke response procedures already in place risk being found non-compliant during summer inspections. WorkSafeBC confirmed that officers will verify that appropriate controls are implemented across all three hazard areas this season.
UV exposure carries long-term cancer risk
WorkSafeBC also identified UV exposure as a chronic occupational hazard, noting that outdoor workers are 3.5 times more likely to develop skin cancer than indoor workers. The regulator directed employers to monitor the daily UV index and provide sunscreen, protective clothing, and access to shade during peak exposure hours.
Employers are expected to treat UV risk reduction as a routine element of daily operational planning, not an ad hoc response.
Those found without adequate programmes face orders and penalties under B.C.'s occupational health and safety legislation.
HR professionals are advised to audit their summer safety programmes immediately to ensure compliance ahead of peak season.
