&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Enforcement
& Compliance Assurance
Washington, DC 20460
EPA 305-F-98-028
September 1998
vwwv.epa.gov
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Ag Center
Helping Agriculture Comply with
Environmental Requirements
FOCUS
O N
Eyeflush Requirements
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
pesticides.
pesticide handlers who are exposed to such
This fact sheet will help you understand how
your employees have access to water for eyefli
submitted to the Agency by people seeking cla
questions and answers were released by EPA
The WPS requires the
agricultural employer to assure
that at least one pint of water is
immediately available to each
worker performing early-entry
activities for which the pesticide
labeling requires protective
eyewear. Similarly, the WPS
requires the handler employer
to assure that at least one pint
of
1O Cl
comply with WPS requirements for ensuring that
.shing. The questions answered here were
rification on this part of the regulation. The
s Office of Compliance on March 15, 1995.
water is immediately available
to each handler who is
performing tasks for which the
pesticide labeling requires
protective eyewear. What is
meant by "immediately
available"?
In both sections of the WPS addressing
availability of eyeflush water, the Agency
requires that emergency eyeflush water
be carried by the handler or early-entry
worker, or be on the vehicle (or aircraft)
which the handler or early-entry worker
is using, or be otherwise immediately
accessible. [40 CFR §§ 170.150(b)(4)
and 170.250 (d)].
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When is eyeflush
water "immediately
accessible"?
The WPS How To Comply manual states
that emergency eyeflush water may be at
the decontamination site if the
decontamination site is immediately
accessible. Because the WPS specifies
that eyewash water must be carried by
the handler or early-entry worker, or
must be on the vehicle or aircraft that
the handler or early-entry worker is
using, the eyewash water must be close
and accessible to the worker or handler
at all times. In addition, because
concentrations and causticity of
agricultural chemicals vary so greatly
(and therefore the duration of exposure
necessary for ocular damage to occur is
difficult to uniformly determine),
emergency eyewash water must be
available immediately. If the emergency
eyewash water is not being carried on
one's person, it must be situated at such
a distance that one could get to it within
very few seconds.
If emergency eyeflush water
must be close, accessible, and
situated so that one could get
to it within very few seconds,
what are some examples of
places that it may be
located/stored so that the
above criteria are met?
In addition to the examples listed above,
the following might be additional
examples of "immediately available":
1. Running water, a commercial
eyeflush dispenser, or
decontamination water in a carboy
at a mix/load, storage, equipment
cleaning or repairing, or other
stationary handling (or early-entry)
site for handlers or early entry
workers engaged in such activities at
the site.
2. Running water or commercial
eyeflush dispensers that are located
at frequent intervals and are easily
accessed by the handlers/early-entry
workers in a bench-type nursery or
greenhouse site.
3. Water that meets the WPS standard
for decontamination water that is in
a nurse tank or other supply tank
that is on (or being dragged by) the
vehicle a handler or early-entry
worker is operating.
What are some examples of
unacceptable locations in which
to store emergency eyeflush
water (i.e., water would NOT
be immediately available)?
Examples of situations where emergency
eyeflush water would NOT be
immediately accessible are:
1. Water on a vehicle but in a locked
compartment.
Ag Center Fact Sheet Series
Agrichemicals/WPS - Eyeflush Requirements
Page 2
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Agrichemicals
The Ag Center
welcomes comments
on this document and
its other services.
3.
Water for which difficult or time-
consuming steps must be taken to
access, such as having to uncouple
or connect a nurse tank hose,
having to unlock a compartment
holding the eyeflush dispenser, or
having to unlock a restroom.
Water located across a stream or
commercial road.
Does the eyeflush water
requirement in the WPS need
to be in one pint containers
only? Can a single, large
container suffice if the contents
equal or exceed one pint per
worker?
A single large container would suffice if
it were immediately accessible to each
worker or handler who requires it. [40
CFR § 170.150]
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. 5th Street
Kansas City, KS 66101
Toll-free: 1-888-663-2155
Internet: www.epa.gov/agriculture
Fax: 913-551-7270
United States Environmental
<{3>ERr% Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20460
Ag Center Fact Sheet Series
Page 3
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