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U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
Ensuring the safety of chemicals
EPA's June 2018 Issuance of
the Delayed Notice of
Availability of Farm Worker
Protection Training Materials
Will Reduce Risks of Injury
and Illness
Report No. 18-P-0238
August 30, 2018

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Report Contributors:	Jaya Brooks
Stacey Garfinkle
Jeffrey Harris
Lauretta Joseph
Abbreviations
EPA	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
FIFRA	Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
NOA	Notice of Availability
OIG	Office of Inspector General
OPP	Office of Pesticide Programs
PERC	Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative
WPS	Worker Protection Standard
Cover Image: Migrant worker picks peaches. (U.S. Department of Defense)
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
18-P-0238
August 30, 2018
Why We Did This Project
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA's)
Office of Inspector General (OIG)
conducted this audit to determine
how the lack of a Notice of
Availability (NOA) of required
Agricultural Worker Protection
Standard (WPS) training
materials affected implementation
of the revised rule.
The EPA established the WPS in
1974, expanded it in 1992, and
revised it in 2015. Compliance
with most of the 2015 revisions
was required by January 2, 2017;
compliance with all other 2015
revisions—including expanded
training—was required by
January 1, 2018. Per the
2015 rule, the EPA was to
publish a NOA in the Federal
Register to inform stakeholders
when expanded training materials
were available. Employers were
then to include this material in
their WPS training programs
within 180 days of the NOA's
publication. The EPA's Office of
Pesticide Programs is
responsible for regulatory
activities associated with the
Agricultural WPS.
This report addresses the
following:
• Ensuring the safety of
chemicals.
EPA's June 2018 Issuance of the Delayed Notice of
Availability of Farm Worker Protection Training
Materials Will Reduce Risks of Injury and Illness
What We Found
The EPA did not publish a NOA when
expanded training materials for the
2015 revised Agricultural WPS were
available. As a result, although there
were expanded training materials
available, the EPA allowed employers
to continue to use the "old" pesticide
safety training materials. These "old"
training materials did not include the
revised 2015 WPS requirements, which were designed to reduce the risk of
injury and illness from pesticide exposure.
In addition, in a notice of proposed rulemaking published December 21, 2017,
the agency announced its intention to further revise the WPS. In this notice, the
EPA said it would not issue a NOA for the expanded training materials until the
additional rulemaking process was completed. However, the EPA also said that
the original compliance dates for the revised standard would remain in effect.
On June 22, 2018, after the start of this audit, the EPA revised its position and
published a NOA for the expanded 2015 revised training materials. The Office
of Pesticide Programs' website was also updated to reference the NOA. By
publishing the NOA, the EPA is advancing its mission to provide agricultural
workers, handlers and employers with the most recent training materials to help
mitigate the risk of pesticide exposure.
Since the EPA has already acted to address the findings in this report, the OIG
makes no recommendations.
Over 2 million agricultural workers
and pesticide handlers are protected
by the WPS. Revisions to the
standard, including expanded
training, are intended to reduce
exposure to pesticides and provide
enhanced protection to these
workers, handlers and their families.
Send all inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391
or visit www.epa.gov/oiq.
Listing of OIG reports.

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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
THE INSPECTOR GENERAL
August 30, 2018
MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT: EPA's June 2018 Issuance of the Delayed Notice of Availability of Farm Worker
Protection Training Materials Will Reduce Risks of Injury and Illness
Report No. 18-P-0238
This is our report on the subject audit conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The project number for this audit was OA&E-FY18-0190.
This report represents the opinion of the OIG and does not necessarily represent the final EPA position.
The office responsible for the issues in this report is the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs, within the
Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
You are not required to respond to this report because this report contains no recommendations.
However, if you submit a response, it will be posted on the OIG's website, along with our memorandum
commenting on your response. Your response should be provided as an Adobe PDF file that complies
with the accessibility requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. The
final response should not contain data that you do not want to be released to the public; if your response
contains such data, you should identify the data for redaction or removal along with corresponding
justification.
FROM: Arthur A. Elkins Jr.
TO:
Charlotte Bertrand, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator
Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention
We will post this report to our website at www.epa.gov/oig.

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EPA's June 2018 Issuance of the Delayed Notice
of Availability of Farm Worker Protection Training
Materials Will Reduce Risks of Injury and Illness
18-P-0238
Table of C
Purpose		1
Background		1
Prior Report		2
Responsible Office		2
Scope and Methodology		2
Results 		3
Agency Response and OIG Analysis 		3
Appendix
A Distribution	 4

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Purpose
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Office of Inspector
General (OIG) conducted this audit to determine how the lack of a Notice of
Availability (NO A) of required Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS)
training materials affected implementation of the revised rule.
Background
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) authorizes the
EPA to take measures to protect agricultural workers,1 pesticide handlers,2
bystanders and the environment from pesticide exposure. The WPS is a key part
of the EPA's strategy3 for reducing occupational exposure to agricultural
pesticides, with a focus on lowering the risk of pesticide poisoning and injury
among agricultural workers and pesticide handlers. The EPA established the WPS
in 1974, expanded it in 1992, and revised it in late 2015. Compliance with most of
the 2015 revisions was required by January 2, 2017; compliance with all other
revisions was required by January 1, 2018.
The revised WPS requires employers to provide training programs on the
expanded pesticide safety content to agricultural workers and handlers. The
revised WPS directs employers to provide this expanded training to their workers
within 180 days after the EPA published a NOA in the Federal Register. The
expanded training is to include all the topics4 specified in the revised rule.
The EPA worked with the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative (PERC)
through a cooperative agreement to develop the expanded WPS training materials.
However, the new training provisions did not take effect when the EPA-approved
training materials became available because the agency did not publish the
required NOA.
On December 21, 2017, the EPA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to
further revise certain requirements in the Agricultural WPS. The notice
announced that the compliance dates in the revised 2015 WPS remained in effect,
but it also stated that the EPA would not issue a NOA concerning the revised
training materials until the rulemaking process was completed. Although there
were new training materials available for the expanded content, the EPA stated
that its "old" pre-2015 revised pesticide safety training for workers and handlers
could continue to be used. This direction was provided even though the "old"
1	People involved in the production of agricultural plants.
2	People who mix, load or apply crop pesticides.
3	Per EPA OIG Report No. 18-P-0080. the Office of Pesticide Programs provides funding to support "education,
outreach, training, technical assistance and evaluation activities" for pesticide development and implementation.
4	Revised requirements encompass providing expanded training on pesticide safety, pesticide safety and application
and hazard information, decontamination supplies and emergency medical assistance, and notifications to workers of
restrictions during pesticide applications and when entering pesticide-treated areas.
18-P-0238
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training did not incorporate the revised requirements designed to further reduce
the risk of injury and illness from pesticide exposure.
Human Health Risks
According to the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) website, the WPS
offers occupational protections to over 2 million agricultural workers and
pesticide handlers, who work at over 600 thousand agricultural establishments
(e.g., farms, forests, nurseries and greenhouses). The 2015 WPS revisions are
intended to decrease pesticide exposure incidents among farmworkers and their
family members. Fewer incidents means a healthier workforce, which helps avoid
lost wages, medical bills, and absences from work and school. However, without
training on the expanded pesticide safety content required by the revised WPS,
the more protective standards cannot be fully implemented.
Prior Report
The OIG previously reported on the EPA's Agricultural WPS in Report
No. 18-P-0080. EPA Needs to Evaluate the Impact of the Revised Agricultural
Worker Protection Standard on Pesticide Exposure Incidents, published
February 15, 2018. In that report, the OIG said that the EPA had policies and
procedures in place to implement the revised Agricultural WPS. Further, the
agency provided training to regional staff, state inspectors and program leads.
However, the OIG found that management controls to implement the revised
WPS were not fully adequate as of January 2, 2017, when compliance with most
of the revised rule was required. Specifically, the OIG found that essential
training and implementation materials were not available by January 2017.
Additionally, the OIG found that the EPA did not have the ability to collect
agricultural pesticide exposure incident data to measure the impact of the revised
WPS rule among target populations. The OIG recommended that the agency
develop a methodology to evaluate the impact of the revised standard on pesticide
exposure incidents among the WPS target populations. The agency disagreed with
this recommendation; resolution efforts are still in progress.
Responsible Office
The OPP, within the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, is
responsible for administering FIFRA and for all regulatory activities associated
with the Agricultural WPS covered in this document.
Scope and Methodology
We conducted our work from May 2018 through August 2018. We conducted this
audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient,
appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and
18-P-0238
2

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conclusions based on our audit objective. We believe that the evidence obtained
provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit
objective.
The scope of this audit focused on the impact of the EPA's lack of a NOA for
required training materials on the implementation of the revised 2015 WPS. We
reviewed the revised 2015 WPS, the OPP's website and relevant training
materials. We spoke with staff from the OPP and the Office of Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance. During our interviews, we obtained information about the
status of the EPA's NOA for the revised WPS materials, including information
regarding what materials were available.
Results
After the start of this audit,5 the EPA published a NOA on June 22, 2018,
notifying its stakeholders through the Federal Register that the expanded WPS
training materials were available. The OPP's website was updated to state the
following:
EPA published a Federal Register notice stating the pesticide
safety training materials with the expanded content required by the
2015 FIFRA WPS are available for use. The training materials
with expanded content have been available at the PERC and were
developed through an EPA cooperative agreement. EPA also
approved training materials developed by other organizations,
some of which are available on PERC's website. Updated training
materials must be used 180 days after the publication of the notice
in the Federal Register.
By publishing the NOA, the EPA is advancing its mission to provide agricultural
workers, handlers and employers with the most recent training materials to help
mitigate the risk of pesticide exposure. Since the EPA has already acted to address
the issue noted, the OIG makes no recommendations.
Agency Response and OIG Analysis
The EPA was provided an opportunity to comment on the discussion document
for this report. The agency provided no comments regarding our findings. We
incorporated the agency's technical edits as appropriate.
5 The OIG issued a project notification to the EPA on May 2, 2018.
18-P-0238
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Appendix A
Distribution
The Administrator
Deputy Administrator
Special Advisor, Office of the Administrator
Chief of Staff
Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention
Agency Follow-Up Official (the CFO)
Agency Follow-Up Coordinator
General Counsel
Associate Administrator for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations
Associate Administrator for Public Affairs
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention
Director, Office of Continuous Improvement, Office of the Administrator
Director, Office of Pesticide Programs, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention
Audit Follow-Up Coordinator, Office of the Administrator
Audit Follow-Up Coordinator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention
Audit Follow-Up Coordinator, Office of Pesticide Programs, Office of Chemical Safety and
Pollution Prevention
18-P-0238
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