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.

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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

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