&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Enforcement
& Compliance Assurance
Washington, DC 20460
EPA 305-F-98-026b
September 1998
www.epa.gov
AT *t ^* T
g Center
Helping Agriculture Comity with
Environmental Requirements
FOCUS ON
Information Exchange Between
Commercial Handlers and
Growers - Part 2
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 commercial handlers and their customers must provide to each other about
pesticide-treated areas. The questions answered here were submitted to the Agency by people
seeking clarification on this part of the regulation. The questions and answers were released by
EPA's Office of Compliance on March 15, ] 995.
If the initial notification of an
application cannot be made
because of difficulty in reaching
the grower (agricultural
employer), can notification be
made after application?
No. There are no provisions for
allowing notification after application
due to difficulty in contacting the
grower (agricultural employer) initially.
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1 can commercial
handlers comply with
tlit; requirement for
!• notifying grmmrs in
advance about
pesticide applications?
i'i f-w
How soon before an application
must a commercial handler
(handler employer) provide the
information to the grower
(agricultural employer)?
The WPS requires that the information
be provided by the commercial handler
to the grower anytime before the
application takes place. [40 CFR
§170.224]
The WPS requires that before
the application of any pesticide
on an agricultural establishment,
a commercial handler must
provide or must assure that their
customer — the operator of the
farm, forest, nursery, or green-
house — is aware of certain
tne Pest'-
hs,app«cation. [46 CFR
170,224]. What constitutes
compliance with this require-
nient? ' , , , ,„ ........ , ' " ,
EPA recommends that the operator of
'};She agricultural establishment
(agricultural employer) and the
commercial pesticide handler (handler
employer) agree on a notification
process that will ensure that workers will
riot be in an area while it is being
treated or under an Restricted Entry
Interval (REI). For example, they could
agree that without prior mutual
agreement, an application will never
occur before the scheduled tinie,
and the grower (agricultural employer)
will not permit workers into the area to
be treated until he/she receives
notification from the commercial
handler that:
• either the application will not take
place until a specified future time at
the earliest, or
• the application has taken place and
specific information required by the
WPS is provided to the grower.
Examples of compliance:
1. An oral exchange of the required
information between the
commercial handler and the grower
prior to an application would comply
with WPS notification
requirements;
2. Leaving a complete message on a
telephone answering machine prior
to the application would constitute
compliance if the message was
actually received by the grower prior
, ;: ; to the application;
3. Leaving a complete message on the
answering machine prior to the
application would constitute
compliance if the commercial
handler and grower had agreed that
by leaving a complete message on
the answering machine notification
could be accomplished. In this
example, the commercial handler
would have satisfied his/her
Ag Center Fact Sheet Series
Agrichemicals/WPS - Information Exchange 2
Page 2
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Agrichernicate
obligations under the WPS even if
the message was not checked by the
grower prior to the application. The
grower, however, would remain
responsible if workers were sent into
treated areas in violation of any
portion of the WPS.
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."
National Agriculture Compliance
Assistance Center
901 N. 5* Street
Kansas City, KS 66 10 1
Toll-free:
Internet:
Fax:
1-888-663-2155
www.epa.gov/oeca/ag
913-551-7270
United States Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20460
Ag Center Fact Sheet Series
Page 3
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