Bushfire smoke

Bushfire smoke and air quality measures

Bushfire smoke exposure is often measured and assessed using community air quality standards and objectives. These can also be useful when identifying and assessing the risk of bushfire smoke exposure to workers.

The Queensland Government air quality monitoring website provides air quality index data that is updated hourly for South East Queensland, South West Queensland, Gladstone, Mackay, Moranbah, Bowen, Townsville and Mount Isa.

The index values represent a proportion of the National Environment Protection Measure for Ambient Air Quality (Air NEPM) goal-based standards and the Environmental Protection (Air) Policy 2008 (Air EPP) objective.

You should also review the health action levels developed by Queensland Health. They provide advice on what actions you should take to protect your health during a smoke event.

If live air quality data is not available in your area or you are unable to access the website, air quality can be assessed using visibility of nearby landmarks. WorkSafe Victoria has a simple tool outlining air quality levels, corresponding distances to a visible landmark and precautions for workers.

The How to manage work health and safety risks code of practice 2021 (PDF, 0.65 MB) outlines when you should do a risk assessment. You can use this risk assessment template (DOCX, 0.02 MB) to guide you and record your assessments.

A risk assessment can include:

• air quality data: air quality index, health action level recommendations, visibility of landmarks
• warnings and alerts: Queensland Rural Fire Service, Queensland Health
• characteristics of the fire: size, proximity to the work and what is burning (wood, grass, tyres, chemicals, asbestos containing materials)
• nature of the work: physical effort involved (heavy, moderate, light), location of work (indoors, outdoors, in vehicle cabin) and length of time working
• potential health effects and if any workers could be sensitive to bushfire smoke
• prevailing weather conditions: heat, humidity, wind strength, wind direction and if the work is downwind to the bushfire.

Limit exposure

Eliminating exposure to bushfire smoke is the most effective control measure. Where elimination is not possible, exposure to bushfire smoke should be minimised.

Modify the work:

• Relocate the work to a place with better air quality.
• Postpone outdoor work in affected areas.
• Consider alternative work.
• Avoid or limit tasks that involve heavy physical effort.
• Limit the amount of time working in affected areas.

Modify the environment:

• Shut windows and doors to prevent bushfire smoke entering buildings and vehicle cabins.
• Set air conditioning and ventilation systems to recirculate or recycle air.
• Avoid evaporative air conditioners that bring outdoor air into the workspace.
• Remove or minimise other sources of air pollution e.g. burning candles or incense, cigarette smoke.

Respiratory protective equipment

Respiratory protective equipment should not be used as a substitute for eliminating or minimising exposure to bushfire smoke.

Medical masks, nuisance dust masks and cloth masks should not be used because they will not effectively filter out fine particles or gases.

If working in areas affected by bushfire smoke is unavoidable, a respirator with P2 filtration can be worn to filter out some of the fine particles in the air. However, it is important to understand their limitations.

• Tight-fitting respirators rely on a good seal between the respirator and the wearer’s face to be effective. Without a good seal, contaminated air will leak into the respirator and the wearer may not get the level of protection needed. To achieve a good seal, tight-fitting respirators must be fit tested to the wearer and men must be clean shaven.
• P2 filtration will filter some particles in the air but will not filter out gases such as carbon monoxide.
• Tight-fitting respirators can make it harder to breathe and can be hot and uncomfortable to wear.
• Disposable respirators must be replaced if they become wet, dirty, damaged or contaminated.
• Respirators can create secondary risks that must be managed, such as increased heat load to the wearer.
• Some people are unable to wear a respirator due to a pre-existing medical condition.

Below images are examples of respiratory protective equipment with P2 filtration.

Be prepared

The risk from bushfire events can change quickly. Be prepared, plan ahead and keep up to date with local air quality data, warnings and alerts.

You can further minimise the risk by putting an emergency plan in place, ensuring that you have a way to communicate with workers during a bushfire event and keeping workers informed of your bushfire response strategies.

Risk management should be an ongoing process in your business and you should review your control measures regularly. You can read more about the circumstances when work health and safety laws require you to review your risk controls.