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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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