Hazardous smoke choking Sydney has started to seep into buildings – prompting calls for office workers to head home early.
The city was blanketed by a thick haze on Tuesday morning as dangerous bushfires blazing across New South Wales continue to push hazardous smoke over the harbour city.
Many people were seen wearing masks as they grabbed their lunch in the central city before ducking back into the office.
However, multiple office buildings had to be evacuated as fire alarms were set off due to the smoke seeping into buildings across the city.
According to the Work Health and Safety Act, workers must take ‘reasonable care for his or her own health and safety’, with bosses expected to ensure their employees are not exposed to conduct that could put them at risk of ‘serious injury or illness’.
Many people were seen wearing masks (pictured) as they grabbed their lunch in the central city before ducking back into the office
Smoke has made it almost impossible to see into the distance in some parts of Sydney (pictured on Tuesday morning)
Director of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Lidia Morawska told the ABC air quality can be just as bad behind closed doors as it is outside.
‘A normal Australian house would normally ventilate by just opening the windows, same with schools,’ Ms Morawska told the ABC.
‘Even with the windows closed, the difference in air quality could be … at most 10 to 25 per cent less concentrated.’
Respiratory diseases scientist Professor Brian Oliver said spending a day breathing this low quality air is as bad as being a heavy smoker.
Numerous scientific studies have found a close link between exposure to fine particles and premature death from heart and lung disease.
Unions have advised workers to stay home if they feel they are at risk from the suffocating smog.
‘As a worker you have a safeguard. Should you feel ill or otherwise impacted by any climatic circumstance, including poor air quality, you can immediately stop work and move to a safe place,’ United Services Union, which represents more than 30,000 local government workers across NSW, said in an email to members on Friday.
The national secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, Allen Hicks, told Guardian Australia workers needed to be vigilant when it comes to their health and not take risks.
Residents in areas of Sydney were bushfires are already burning are urged to prepare ahead of Tuesday’s forecast, which could reach 43C in some parts. Pictured: Sydney Opera House on Tuesday
Thousands of construction workers had already walked off job sites by 10.30am due to poor air quality (pictured Construction workers on overpass bridge at Rozelle on Tuesday)
‘There’s a provision in the Health and Safety Act – a worker has got a right to cease work if they have a reasonable concern that otherwise would expose them to a serious health and safety risk,’ he said.
Thousands of construction workers had already walked off job sites by 10.30am due to poor air quality.
Unions NSW assistant secretary Thomas Costa told the Sydney Morning Herald emergency service workers were the only ones who should work outside in these conditions as they had accepted the risk.
‘The current level of toxicity in the air is ten times the safe working limit,” he said.
‘The union movement will be supporting any union member who refuses to work in these conditions.’
Smoke from the ferocious blazes have blasted the city with smog over the past few months as firefighters battle to contain out-of-control bushfires burning on Sydney’s edge
Australian Workers Union national secretary Daniel Walton said work was being stopped at sites where air pollution posed a clear threat to well-being of workers.
Mr Walton said work had been paused on some road projects, including the NorthConnex tunnel and the M1 Pacific Highway, and threatened there would be more if employers do not act.
‘We are calling on all employers to take a common-sense approach and protect the health and safety of their workforce. If they don’t there will be more stoppages,’ he said.
The union’s health and safety representatives were actively monitoring air quality, Mr Walton said.
City dwellers covered their faces to avoid the pollutants as the sun streamed through the film of smoke on Friday igniting an orange glow
A man hosed fire retardant from a vehicle 50km south west of Sydney, as the Green Wattle Creek fire storms towards Werombi
Sydney Water have issued an alert to their employees to avoid outdoor activity and stay inside as much as possible.
The Tuggerah to Doyalson M1 Pacific Motorway upgrade closed on Thursday night because of unsafe visibility and workers were sent home except those working in cabs with recycled air.
The warning comes as several major bushfires on the city’s edge merged to form one megafire on Friday.
Blankets of smoke seethed through the city turning the skyline a hellish orange as ash flakes rained out west.
Officials have confirmed the fires are likely to burn well into the new year disintegrating hopes of a smoke-free summer.
Firefighters are still battling 108 fires across NSW with more than 70 still uncontained.