Photo: Wildfire smoke is affecting outdoor workers across much of the U.S. and Canada. This photo shows orange skies over Toronto on July 15. Photo: ARandomName123 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Letter carriers and other people who work outdoors, especially in the upper Midwest and East, are experiencing hazardous levels of smoke from Canadian wildfires. Some areas have been experiencing AQI (Air Quality Index) measurements of over 300, even over 500, with local authorities advising residents to stay indoors.
As temperatures continue to rise from climate change and vegetation dries out and catches fire from lightning, this situation will get worse.
We are being given advice by Postal Service management and our union leadership to make individual decisions about whether we are safe delivering mail in these conditions. Wrong! We are berated with the slogan “Safety Depends on Me!” Wrong!
Management should be following local health advisories and keep carriers off the street in these conditions. But reports from carriers all over the Midwest let us know that management is instructing carriers to deliver the mail and use a mask if desired and available. Wrong!
Many carriers will follow management instructions despite concern for their own or co-workers’ safety because they fear management retaliation if they do not—especially people in the more vulnerable job categories of City Carrier Associates and Part-Time Flexible employees.
Or they assume that they will not be impacted by the smoke. (Hint: wildfire smoke inhalation can damage healthy individuals over time; see the last section of this article.)
Or they do not want to be considered weak when others are going ahead. Or they don’t want to bring back mail to have to face overburdened days to come.
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