OHIO — The poor air quality that Ohio has dealt with this summer has caused many people to be forced inside during Air Quality Alerts, but some people must stay outside to do their job.
Some of those workers include employees of the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Brent Kovacs, the public information officer of the Ohio Department of Transportation District 12, explained they have encouraged their employees to take safety precautions.
“We’ve instructed all of our employees if they have any respiratory issues to please let their manager know right away and we’d be glad to accommodate any of their needs that they have,” he said.
Kovacs said that they do take factors, such as air quality and weather, into consideration before sending their employees outside.
“Air quality is one of the many considerations that we have to look at for worker safety while we’re working to keep the highway safer to Ohio motorists,” he said.
Regardless of any kind of weather, Kovacs said that the work still has to be done.
“Our job is to make sure the roads are safe and passable whether it be snow, air quality issues, debris, high water, whatever the issue is our men and women that work on the side of the road are there to make sure everyone can get to their destination safely,” he said.
Many areas across Ohio are getting a break from poor air quality, but some experts said the smoke coming from the Canadian wildfires is likely not over yet.
