Background Paper for
Candidate National Enforcement Priority:
Worker Protection Standards
January 2010
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What is Worker Protection Standards and Why Are They Important?
The Worker Protection Standard (WPS) for Agricultural Pesticides is a federal regulation
designed to protect employees on farms, forests, nurseries, and greenhouses from occupational
exposures to agricultural pesticides. The WPS offers protections to approximately 2.5 million
agricultural workers (people involved in the production of agricultural plants) and pesticide
handlers (people who mix, load, or apply pesticides) that work at over 600,000 agricultural
establishments. The WPS contains requirements for:
o pesticide safety training;
o notification of pesticide applications
o use of personal protective equipment
o restricted entry intervals following pesticide application
o decontamination supplies; and
o emergency medical assistance.
All agricultural employers, owners, and managers, as well as labor contractors, are required to
comply with the WPS when pesticides with labeling that refers to the WPS have been used on an
agricultural establishment. Most WPS requirements apply to agricultural workers or pesticide
handlers, but there are some requirements that apply to all persons and some that only apply to
certain persons such as those who handle pesticide application equipment or clean pesticide-
contaminated personal protective equipment. The WPS are critical to assuring that agricultural
farm workers are protected from occupational pesticide hazards.
EPA's WPS provides important regulatory protections for this population by requiring several
safeguards such as training on recognition of pesticide hazards, protection from pesticide
exposure, and emergency assistance in the event of a pesticide exposure or injury. EPA is
currently revising the WPS rule to expand coverage and improve protections for farm workers
and handlers through expansion of the requirements to inform farm workers and their families,
additional protections, and mitigate exposures through clarified decontamination procedures.
EPA likewise is revising the WPS Certification and Training requirements to address issues of
competency and clarifying standards of supervision for applications of restricted use pesticides.
Rationale:
Environmental & Human Health Significance
Agricultural farm workers and pesticide applicators face disproportionately high risk of exposure
to pesticides (mixing, loading and applying pesticides; hand labor tasks in pesticide treated
crops; pesticide drift from neighboring fields). Studies show that farm worker families have

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higher levels of pesticide exposure than non-farm worker families (take-home exposure transfer
of pesticide residues and proximity of housing to treated areas). There are 2 million farm workers
in the US, over a million certified applicators and 2-3 million noncertified applicators applying
pesticides under the supervision of certified applicators. It is important to protect farm workers
from the occupational pesticide hazards to ensure their safety in the workplace and viability as a
community.
Environmental Justice
There are two million farm workers in the United States, over a million certified applicators and
two to three million non-certified applicators applying pesticides under the supervision of
certified applicators. This is a large environmental justice community: low income; low literacy;
non-English speaking and transitory. There are also concerns for Tribal members from
agricultural reservations.
Non-compliance Data
In 2008, states and tribes conducted 4,777 WPS inspections resulting in 1,096 enforcement
actions. The major violation types are the lack of central posting, inadequate pesticide safety
training, lack of decontamination supplies, lack of personal protective equipment, and failure to
give adequate notice of pesticide application. Noticeably absent from this list of violations are
violations of the reentry intervals after a pesticide application.
Farm worker advocates and Non-Governmental Organizations consistently assert that there are
widespread non-compliance problems and that incidents are significantly under-reported because
of language barriers; the mobile nature of the workforce; lack of education; poor health support
systems; and fear of employer retaliation.
Enforcement
States have primary responsibility for conducting compliance monitoring of and initiating
enforcement actions for violations of pesticide use requirements (referred to as "primacy"). In
certain situations, Federal involvement or support can provide significant benefits by addressing
noncompliance from a national corporate-wide perspective, facilitating compliance efforts
involving multiple states, tribes and/or regions, and enhancing public awareness on a broader,
more national forum.
Federal Government Role
Although under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), states (and
tribes) have primacy to enforce pesticide use compliance involving the worker protection
standards, there are several federal activities which would support and supplement state and
tribal WPS compliance and enforcement activities:
o Analyze prior WPS violations and develop a targeting strategy to support targeted
inspections for both product and use compliance;

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o Conduct targeted inspections in conjunction with states and tribes, as appropriate;
o Gain deterrence through aggressive pursuit of violators through enforcement coupled with a
media message.

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