vvEPA United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance Washington, DC 20460 EPA305-F-01-009 August 2001 www.epa.gov AF~ «—w^ T g Center Helping Agriculture Comply with Environmental Requirements O C U S ON Information Growers Must Provide to Commercial Handlers The Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is a regulation issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 and amended in 1995. It covers pesticides that are used in the production of agricultural plants on farms, forests, nurseries, and greenhouses. The WPS requires you to take steps to reduce the risk of pesticide-related illness and injury if you (1) use such pesticides, or (2) employ workers or pesticide handlers who are exposed to such pesticides. This fact sheet will help you understand how to comply with WPS requirements concerning the information that growers must provide to commercial handlers about pesticide-treated areas. Information provided by growers to commercial handlers Operators of farms, forests, nurseries, and greenhouses must make sure that, whenever a commercial pesticide handler will be doing pesticide handling tasks (including tasks as a crop advisor) on their establishment, the commercial handler's employer knows specific information concerning treated areas on the agricultural establishment. Operators of agricultural establishments must provide the following information to the commercial pesticide handlers they hire: • Specific location and description of any areas on the agricultural establishment: --may be treated with a pesticide or be under a restricted-entry interval while the commercial handler will be there, AND --the commercial handlers maybe in (or walk within 1/4 mile of) • Restrictions on entering those areas. ------- The Ag Center welcomes comments on this document and its other services. Operators of commercial pesticide handling establishments must have this information to protect their employees as required by the WPS. They must make sure that, whenever one of their handlers will be doing pesticide handling tasks (including tasks as a crop advisor) on an agricultural establishment, he or she is aware of the required information concerning pesticide-treated areas on the agricultural establishment. For more information To get more facts about compliance, contact the Ag Center by phone, fax, or mail. Call the toll-free number to ask compliance questions or order publications. At the Center's web site, www.epa.gov/agriculture, you can explore compliance information and order or download publications. For a complete publications list, request document 10001, "Ag Center Publications." For example, if custom applicators are scheduled to use ground equipment to apply a pesticide on a farm, they need to be informed of any nearby areas on the farm that they should stay out of because the area has an REI in effect. Or if commercial crop advisors are scheduled to scout in an area on a farm that remains under an REI, they need to be told what personal protective equipment they should wear while in that area. National Agriculture Compliance Assistance Center 901 N. 5th Street Kansas City, KS 66 1 0 1 Toll-free: Internet: Fax: 1-888-663-2155 www.epa.gov/agriculture 913-551-7270 United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20460 Ag Center Fact Sheet Series Agrichemicals/WPS - Growers Must Inform Commercial Handlers Page 2 ------- |