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Wildfire smoke risk expands as employers face workplace compliance issues
Air quality alerts have reached more than 16 states, with over 120 million people exposed to unhealthy conditions since mid-July, according to Risk & Insurance.
Wildfire smoke risk is increasingly showing up in both workplace operations and insurance underwriting, as poor air quality spreads well beyond where fires start, Risk & Insurance reports. During mid-July, smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires drifted across the Midwest and Northeast, triggering air quality alerts across more than a dozen states and prompting employers to treat indoor air safety and compliance planning as an employment practice issue.
The outlet notes that the air quality index in Chicago reached a record 877 during the period covered, and the article says the situation led to a recommendation to stay indoors and reduce activity levels. Karl Kumli, a workplace safety and employment attorney at Fisher Phillips, said employers need a plan to address workplace safety and compliance during poor air quality, adding that the concern has historically been more top of mind in the West and Florida.
Risk & Insurance also highlights the scale of the underlying wildfire activity. Since mid-July, the smoke spread has raised active air quality alerts in over 16 states and put more than 120 million people under unhealthy air quality alerts, while the National Interagency Fire Center cited a Level 5 National Preparedness Level and reported that nearly 46,000 fires had burned more than 5.2 million acres in 2026.
On the insurance side, Philip Wray, head of property at MSIG USA, said wildfire is being treated as a major hazard and peril across underwriting portfolios, not only in Western states. The article says wildland fire smoke contains hazardous mixtures, and it cites a 2026 Science Advances study estimating wildfire-smoke PM2.5 contributed to more than 24,000 deaths annually in the United States between 2006 and 2020.