&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Enforcement
& Compliance Assurance
Washington, DC 20460
EPA 305-F-98-027a
September 1998
www.epa.gov
t" »
Ar i* ^* T
g Center
Helping Agriculture Comply with
Environmental Requirements
FOCUS ON
Information Displayed at a
Central Place - Part I
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 for displaying
information about pesticide applications. 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, 1995.
WPS requires employers to
"display" specific information
about pesticides for 30 days after
their application on the
agricultural establishment or the
expiration of any Restricted
Entry Interval (REI). Does this
mean that the information must
be displayed like posters, so that
all the information is in view at
once, or may the information be
displayed on sheets of paper that
are in a binder or in another
convenient manner?
WPS requires that the information on
applications be accessible, legible, and
displayed in a central location on the
farm, or in the nursery or greenhouse (or
in or near a forest, where workers or
handlers are likely to congregate or pass
by) "where it can be readily seen and
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...... iv |i ...... "i'M!1
read" by workers [40 CFR §§170.122
and 170.135] and handlers [40 CFR
§§170.222 and 170.235]. It also
requires that workers and handlers be
I informed of the location and allowed
*™^pcessiJ9^t. EPA used the word
.i^ii "display" to indicate that this access
\«IH must be unrestricted in that it need not
:,'''li'iliiilEliil "" '"' ' • • I1, "i,1 '•! i '',ii:'i" ' ' ..."H"!' 'i '•'! ''', 1||l'i,' • i" ' ' •''!" '',' ' >.i Juii'1 ,• ••'" : i
be requested. However, any manner of
.^djsplay that meets these criteria is-
^gj acceptable, including sucH approaches
:"!! as page-oh-page lists stapled at the top
• |i^arig,ugeio^icleyices such as^ciipboards or
:"!~!•! binders.
i^jfji; Lriiiljf^. grower buys a WPS-labeled
product and non-WPS-labeled
product, is he required to list any
....... IWPSldlxl need not
• ;"i 'IS J'
li.'IIL'J1 j
:ii ilihiiiiiij! i
lications ..... of the ..... hbn^
,., .......... ,!; ..... i .............. .labeled product on his centrally
located information sheet
'.::»;; ..... concerning applications of
11 ........................... " pesticides?
':|''*lli!l" ....... :™ No. He is required to list only
':'3f: ....... ' S| applications of WPS-labeled products.
''.'• '•"'' . Is! Nonetheless, the Agency encourages
'iFifliijjjjij:!!,, , iiViJij, ( .'if ',! J'vlfjiWiiiiiifr "Y- ' ' ""i ..... • r ........... • ................... 11
growers to display intormation on all
'^jjp; ':^ applications as a matter of providing
: '*|!||:!!l:1, i!^ protection to the workers.
,,:;;:: Section 170.122 requires the
display of certain information
IMIllii!!: nlj"J ' ' 9 "" ' ' ':
i!,:;:; when, workers are_ on i an
establishment where pesticides
have been applied. Does this
mean anywhere on the
agricultural establishment? Does
it apply only to a contiguous
property?
(First: question) Yes. Whenever workers
or handlers employed by the agricultural
establishment are anywhere on that
establishment, certain information must
be displayed. (Second question) No, it
does not necessarily apply only to
contiguous property. It applies anytime
they are anywhere on the agricultural
establishment.
What is required for central
posting when an agricultural
establishment is particularly
large or has separate workforces
on non-contiguous sites?
The rule requires that certain
information (30-day listing of pesticide
applications and associated REIs, safety
poster, and emergency medical care
information) must be displayed in a
central location on the agricultural
establishment, in a place accessible to
worker? and hipdiers. EPA anticipated
1 that there would be one central posting
location on the agricultural
establishment. However, if because of
the size of the establishment or the
separate nature of the workforce, there
-is fipt one central location that is
Ag Center Fact Sheet Series
Agrichemicals/WPS - Information Display 1
Page 2
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accessible to all workers, then an
employer will need more than one
central posting to comply with the
accessibility requirement in the rule. By
accessible, EPA means that the
information must be in a location where
it can be readily seen and read and must
be unrestricted in that it need not be
requested.
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 1 01
Toll-free: 1-888-663-2155
Internet: www.epa.gov/oeca/ag
Fax: 913-551-7270
United States Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20460
Ag Center Fact Sheet Series
Page 3
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