Farmworker Smoke and Excessive Heat Protection Act of 2025

This bill sets national safety rules to protect farmworkers from wildfire smoke and extreme heat. Farm employers must give workers protective gear when air quality or heat reaches dangerous levels. For smoke, this includes N95 or N100 respirators; for heat, this includes water and cooling. When conditions become extremely dangerous, using this protection is mandatory. Workers must get training in a language they understand and time to ask questions. Employers must also give at least a 10‑minute rest break every 2 hours in shaded or cooler areas once conditions are dangerous. These steps respond to growing wildfire smoke and heat risks for outdoor workers.

The Labor Department must start writing permanent rules within 90 days, and those rules must be at least as strong as the initial protections and as protective as the most protective state standard. The initial rules are enforced like other worker safety rules, including protection from retaliation. The Department can provide technical help, sample training materials, and will work with community groups and offer materials in other languages, including Indigenous languages.

• Who is affected: Farmworkers and agricultural employers.
• What changes: Provide respirators, water, and cooling; require use when conditions are extremely dangerous; give training in workers’ languages; 10‑minute shaded/cool rest breaks every 2 hours when conditions are dangerous; enforcement under worker safety laws.
• When: Starts at enactment with an initial standard; rulemaking begins within 90 days.