&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Enforcement
& Compliance Assurance
Washington, DC 20460
EPA 305-F-98-024
September 1998
vwwv.epa.gov
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Ag Center
Helping Agriculture Comply with
Environmental Requirements
FOCUS
O N
Posted Warning Signs
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 warn people about pesticide-treated areas.
Agency by people seeking clarification on this
were released by EPA's Office of Compliance
If a treated area has unlimited
entry points, how often should
treated-area warning signs be
posted to be "visible from all
usual points of entry?" Every
100 feet?
The rule requires that signs be visible at
all usual points of worker entry,
including at least each access road, each
border with any labor camp adjacent to
the treated area, and each footpath and
10 o
comply with WPS requirements for posting signs
The questions answered here were submitted to the
part of the regulation. The questions and answers
on March 15, 1995.
other walking route that enters the
treated area. If there are many usual
points of entry, then signs must be
visible from all usual points of entry.
When there are no usual points of
worker entry, signs must be posted in the
corners of the treated area or a location
affording maximum visibility. In areas
where there are unlimited points of
entry, the agricultural employer must
determine the usual points of entry and
make signs visible from those points of
entry.
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If a person owns private forest
land that the public frequently
enters, does he have any
responsibility to post this land
prior to or after the treatment
with a pesticide?
The fact that the public enters does not
trigger the WPS requirement for posting.
The WPS does prohibit an agricultural
employer from allowing any person to
remain in the area during the pesticide
application. In addition, there are
specific labeling statements which
prohibit the application of the product
in such a manner that will contact
persons either directly or through drift.
Also, there may be non-WPS label
specific or additional state or local
requirements that are applicable.
National Agriculture Compliance
Assistance Center
901 N. 5th Street
Kansas City, KS 6610 1
Toll-free:
Internet:
Fax:
1-888-663-2155
www.epa.gov/agriculture
913-551-7270
United States Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20460
The Ag Center
welcomes
comments on this
document and its
other services.
For more information
You can get more facts about
compliance by calling the Ag Center's
toll-free number. Materials can be sent
to you by fax or mail, or you can talk to
an Ag Center representative. For a list
of all publications available from the Ag
Center, request document number
10001, "Ag Center Publications."
Ag Center Fact Sheet Series
Agrichemicals/WPS - Posted Warnings
Page 2
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