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The Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is a regulation EPA originally issued in 1992 and revised in 2015. The regulation is primarily intended to reduce the risks of illness or injury to workers and handlers resulting from occupational exposures to pesticides used in the production of agricultural plants on agricultural establishments (i.e., farms, forests, nurseries and enclosed space production facilities, such as greenhouses). Workers are generally those who perform hand-labor tasks in pesticide-treated crops, such as harvesting, thinning, and pruning. Handlers are usually those that are in direct contact with pesticides such as mixing, loading or applying pesticides.
The 2015 revisions to the WPS regulation strengthened elements of the existing rule to better protect workers and handlers from occupational exposure to pesticides and reduce the numbers of potentially preventable pesticide incidents and illnesses. The 2015 revisions also ensure workers and handlers receive workplace protections comparable to those that are already provided to workers in other industries, while still considering the unique needs of agricultural operations. Fewer pesticide exposure incidents are the anticipated result of having stronger protections for the nation’s 2 million agricultural workers and their families. This results in a healthier and more productive workforce.
Scope
The WPS requires agricultural employers and commercial pesticide handler employers to provide specific information and protections to workers, handlers and other persons when WPS-labeled pesticide products are used on agricultural establishments in the production of agricultural plants. It also requires owners of agricultural establishments to provide certain protections for themselves and their immediate family, requires handlers to wear the labeling-specified clothing and personal protective equipment when performing handler activities, and to take measures to protect workers and other persons during pesticide applications.
Regulatory citations
- 40 CFR 170 — Worker Protection Standard
Key definitions
- Agricultural employer: Any person who hires or contracts for the services of workers, for any type of compensation, to perform activities related to the production of agricultural plants, or any person who is an owner of or is responsible for the management or condition of an agricultural establishment that uses such workers.
- Agricultural establishment: Any farm, forest, nursery, or greenhouse.
- Crop advisor: Any person who is assessing pest numbers or damage, pesticide distribution, or the status or requirements of agricultural plants. The term does not include any person who is performing hand labor tasks.
- Early entry: Entry by a worker into a treated area on the agricultural establishment after a pesticide application is complete, but before any restricted-entry interval for the pesticide has expired.
- Fumigant: Any pesticide product that is a vapor or gas, or forms a vapor or gas on application, and whose method of pesticidal action is through the gaseous state.
- Hand labor: Any agricultural activity performed by hand or with hand tools that causes a worker to have substantial contact with surfaces (such as plants, plant parts, or soil) that may contain pesticide residues. These activities include, but are not limited to, harvesting, detasseling, thinning, weeding, topping, planting, sucker removal, pruning, disbudding, roguing, and packing produce into containers in the field. Hand labor does not include operating, moving, or repairing irrigation or watering equipment or performing the tasks of crop advisors.
- Handler: Any person, including a self-employed person who is employed for any type of compensation by an agricultural establishment or commercial pesticide handling establishment and who is:
- Mixing, loading, transferring, or applying pesticides.
- Disposing of pesticides or pesticide containers.
- Handling opened containers of pesticides.
- Acting as a flagger.
- Cleaning, adjusting, handling, or repairing the parts of mixing, loading, or application equipment that may contain pesticide residues.
- Assisting with the application of pesticides.
- Entering a greenhouse or other enclosed area after the application and before the inhalation exposure level listed in the labeling has been reached or one of the ventilation criteria or in the labeling has been met:
- To operate ventilation equipment.
- To adjust or remove coverings used in fumigation.
- To monitor air levels.
- Entering a treated area outdoors after application of any soil fumigant to adjust or remove soil coverings such as tarpaulins.
- Performing tasks as a crop adviser:
- During any pesticide application.
- Before the inhalation exposure level listed in the labeling has been reached or one of the ventilation criteria established by 170.110(c)(3) or in the labeling has been met.
- During any restricted-entry interval.
The term does not include any person who is only handling pesticide containers that have been emptied or cleaned according to pesticide product labeling instructions or, in the absence of such instructions, have been subjected to triple-rinsing or its equivalent.
- Handler employer: Any person who is self-employed as a handler or who employs any handler, for any type of compensation.
- Personal protective equipment: Devices and apparel that are worn to protect the body from contact with pesticides or pesticide residues, including, but not limited to, coveralls, chemical-resistant suits, chemical-resistant gloves, chemical-resistant footwear,respirators, chemical-resistant aprons, chemical-resistant headgear, and protective eyewear.
- Practical knowledge: The possession of pertinent facts and comprehension sufficient to properly perform functions associated with use of restricted use pesticides, including properly responding to reasonably foreseeable problems and situations.
- Restricted-entry interval: The time after the end of a pesticide application during which entry into the treated area is restricted.
- Restricted use pesticide retail dealer: Any person who distributes or sells restricted use pesticides to any person, excluding transactions solely between persons who are pesticide producers, registrants, wholesalers, or retail sellers, acting only in those capacities.
- Treated area: Any area to which a pesticide is being directed or has been directed.
- Toxicity: The property of a pesticide that refers to the degree to which the pesticide, and its degradates and metabolites, are able to cause an adverse physiological effect on an organism.
Summary of requirements
The agricultural employer or the handler employer, as appropriate, shall:
- Assure that each worker or handler receives the required protections.
- Assure that any pesticide is used in a manner consistent with the labeling of the pesticide.
- Provide, to each person who supervises any worker or handler, information and directions sufficient to assure that each worker or handler receives the protections required. Such information and directions shall specify which persons are responsible for actions required to comply with the WPS.
- Require each person who supervises any worker or handler to assure compliance by the worker or handler with the provisions of this part and to assure that the worker or handler receives the protections required by the WPS.
- Do not take any retaliatory action for attempts to comply with this part or any action having the effect of preventing or discouraging any worker or handler from complying or attempting to comply with any requirement of this part.