TORONTO RANKED WORST IN THE WORLD FOR AIR QUALITY

Smoke from northwestern Ontario forest fires has pushed Toronto’s air quality to hazardous levels, creating added risks for outdoor and construction workers.

Toronto and the surrounding GTA are currently experiencing significantly reduced air quality due to wildfire smoke caused by forest fires in northwestern Ontario. As smoke from these fires moves south across the region, Environment Canada has issued an orange air quality alert, warning that poor air quality may persist into Thursday, with possible improvement later in the week.

The smoke has created a visible haze across the city and may contribute to a range of health symptoms, including eye, nose, and throat irritation, headaches, coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, and chest discomfort. Individuals with pre-existing respiratory or cardiovascular conditions, seniors, pregnant individuals, infants, and young children may be at greater risk.

These air quality concerns are occurring at the same time as a heat warning, with daytime temperatures reaching the low 30s and humidex values making conditions feel even hotter. The combination of wildfire smoke from forest fires and extreme heat can increase physiological stress, particularly for workers performing physically demanding tasks outdoors.

For the construction sector, these conditions should be treated as a workplace health and safety concern. Outdoor construction activities may expose workers to prolonged heat, airborne particulates from wildfire smoke, reduced visibility, dehydration, fatigue, and respiratory irritation. These factors can affect worker performance, increase the likelihood of heat-related illness, and contribute to elevated incident risk on site.

Employers, supervisors, and constructors should monitor weather and air quality advisories throughout the day and assess whether existing controls remain appropriate. Work activities may need to be modified based on site conditions, task intensity, worker health risks, and the availability of suitable controls.

Recommended control measures may include rescheduling high-exertion work, reducing the duration of outdoor exposure, increasing rest breaks, providing shaded or cooled recovery areas, ensuring continuous access to drinking water, relocating work indoors where possible, and reviewing respiratory protection requirements where exposure to wildfire smoke cannot be adequately controlled.

Supervisors should also remind workers to report symptoms early, including dizziness, nausea, headache, unusual fatigue, coughing, breathing difficulty, or chest discomfort. Workers should not be encouraged to continue strenuous work when symptoms of heat stress or smoke exposure are present.

As environmental conditions continue to change, proactive planning is essential. Wildfire smoke from forest fires and extreme heat are not simply weather-related inconveniences; they can become workplace hazards that require assessment, communication, and appropriate control measures under a health and safety management approach.