EPA’s Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is aimed at reducing the risk of pesticide poisoning and injury among agricultural workers and pesticide handlers. The WPS offers occupational protections to over 2 million agricultural workers (people involved in the production of agricultural plants) and pesticide handlers (people who mix, load, or apply crop pesticides) who work at over 600,000 agricultural establishments (farms, forests, nurseries and greenhouses).

Learn more HERE!

The requirements in the WPS are intended to inform workers and handlers about pesticide safety, provide protections from potential exposure to pesticides, and mitigate exposures that do occur.  Learn more HERE!

Inform

• Pesticide safety training for workers and handlers.
• Access to specific information for workers and handlers, including:
  • pesticide applications on the establishment;
  • safety data sheets for pesticides applied on the establishment; and
  • pesticide safety information (poster) that includes emergency information.
• Access to labeling information for pesticide handlers and early-entry workers.
• Notify workers about pesticide-treated areas so they can avoid inadvertent exposures.
• Information exchange between agricultural employers and commercial pesticide handler employers.

Protect

• Keep workers and other people out of areas being treated with pesticides.
• Keep workers and other people away from pesticide application equipment (out of the application exclusion zones) during applications.
• Handlers suspend applications if workers or people are near pesticide application equipment (in the application exclusion zone) during applications.
• Keep workers out of areas that are under a restricted-entry interval (REI), with a few narrow exceptions.
• Protect early-entry workers who are doing permitted tasks in pesticide-treated areas during an REI, including special instructions and duties related to correct use of personal protective equipment.
• Monitor handlers using highly toxic pesticides.
• Provide and maintain required personal protective equipment to handlers.
• If a respirator is required by a pesticide label, provide the handler with a medical evaluation, fit test and respirator training.

Mitigate

• Decontamination supplies including a sufficient supply of water, soap and towels for routine washing and emergency decontamination and eyewash systems for certain handlers.
• Emergency assistance by making transportation available to a medical care facility in case of a pesticide injury or poisoning, and providing information about the pesticide(s) to which the person may have been exposed.

Handlers and workers must be trained at least once every five years, counting from the end of the month in which the previous training was completed.

The pesticide safety training materials for workers and handlers must be either:

• WPS training materials developed by EPA; or
• Equivalent WPS training material that contains at least the following information:
  • For workers:
    • Where and in what form pesticides may be encountered during work activities.
    • Hazards of pesticides resulting from toxicity and exposure, including:
      • acute and chronic effects;
      • delayed effects; and
      • sensitization.
    • Routes through which pesticides can enter the body.
    • Signs and symptoms of common types of pesticide poisoning.
    • Emergency first aid for pesticide injuries or poisonings.
    • How to obtain emergency medical care.
    • Routine and emergency decontamination procedures including emergency eye flushing techniques.
    • Hazards from chemigation and drift.
    • Hazards from pesticide residues on clothing.
    • Warnings about taking pesticides or pesticide containers home.
    • Requirements of the WPS designed to reduce the risks of illness or injury resulting from workers’ occupational exposure to pesticides, including:
      • application and entry restrictions;
      • the design of the warning sign;
      • posting of warning signs, oral warnings;
      • the availability of specific information about applications; and
      • the protection against retaliatory acts.
  • For handlers:
    • Format and meaning of information on the product label, including safety information.
    • Hazards of pesticides resulting from toxicity and exposure, including:
      • acute and chronic effects;
      • delayed effects; and
      • sensitization.
    • Routes through which pesticides can enter the body.
    • Signs and symptoms of common types of pesticide poisoning.
    • Emergency first aid for pesticide injuries or poisonings.
    • How to obtain emergency medical care.
    • Routine and emergency decontamination procedures including emergency eye flushing techniques.
    • Need for and appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
    • Prevention, recognition and first aid treatment of heat-related illness.
    • Safety requirements for handling, transporting, storing, and disposing of pesticides, including general procedures for spill cleanup.
    • Environmental concerns such as drift, runoff and wildlife hazards.
    • Warnings about taking pesticides or pesticide containers home.
    • An explanation of WPS requirements that handler employers must follow for the protection of handlers and others, including the:
      • prohibition against applying pesticides in a manner that will cause contact with workers or other persons;
      • requirement to use PPE;
      • provisions for training and decontamination; and
      • protection against retaliatory acts.

The WPS requires owners and employers on agricultural establishments and commercial pesticide handling establishments to protect employees on farms, forests, nurseries, and greenhouses from occupational exposure to agricultural pesticides.  The WPS protections cover two types of employees:

• Pesticide handlers: those who mix, load, or apply agricultural pesticides; clean or repair pesticide application equipment; or assist with the application of pesticides.
• Agricultural workers: those who perform tasks related to growing and harvesting plants on farms or in greenhouses, nurseries, or for

More information about who is covered by the WPS and responsibilities of employers.

Not sure if you must comply with EPA’s WPS regulations?  Take a quick test to find out!

Click HERE to start!

Agricultural workers and handlers need WPS training annually if they will be working in treated areas on an restricted-entry interval (REI) has been in effect. Currently certified Handlers must be trained before doing any handling task.

Learn more at PERC‘s website

• Is WPS training needed? What employers need to know
• Does the WPS apply to my operation?
• Family Exemption to the 

  WHEN SHOULD AN AG WORKER & HANDLER BE TRAINED?

  Workers and handlers must be trained annually!

  Agricultural workers and pesticide handlers must be receive a WPS training before they begin working or handling tasks in treated areas.
  The training must be delivered every 12 months (annually), counting from the end of the month in which the previous training was completed.

  Important:

  After January 2, 2017, handlers who have not been trained in accordance with the WPS must be trained BEFORE they perform any handling task UNLESS they have been trained within the past 12 months. After January 2, 2017, workers who have not been trained in accordance with the WPS must be trained BEFORE they perform any worker task in an area that has been treated with a pesticide or an REI has been in effect within the last 30 days, UNLESS they have been trained as a worker or handler within the last 12 months. The training for any worker or handler who has been trained within the last year PRIOR to January 2, 2017, will expire 12 months from the date the training was given.

Learn more HERE!

WPS exemption for owners of agricultural establishments and their immediate family:

The WPS does not provide an exception for “family farms” per se. The revised WPS exempts owners of agricultural establishments and members of their immediate family from certain requirements, as does the original WPS. It is important to note that: (1) no agricultural establishments that use WPS-covered pesticides are completely exempt from the WPS requirements, (2) owners/agricultural employers must provide full WPS protections for workers
and handlers who are not in the owners’ immediate families, and (3) even owners and their immediate family members that qualify for the exemption must comply with some of the WPS requirements.

The key changes to the exemption for owners of agricultural establishments and their immediate family include the following:

The definition of immediate family has been expanded to include: grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and first cousins. “First cousin” means the child of a parent’s sibling, i.e., the child of an aunt or uncle. This revised definition means more establishments qualify for the exemption and more owners and family members are exempt from many of the provisions of the new regulation.
An exemption from the minimum age for handlers and early-entry workers has been added for owners and members of their immediate families.
The exemption applies when a majority of the establishment is owned by persons who are “immediate family” members as defined in the WPS. EPA’s previous interpretation of the exemption required the establishment to be wholly owned by immediate family members
The complete terms of WPS exemption for owners of agricultural establishments and their immediate family is in the final rule at § 170.601(a).

Please view the document produced by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):  HERE!