Early-Entry Tasks During an Agricultural Emergency

Workers may enter treated areas before the restricted-entry interval is over to perform tasks that are necessary because of an agricultural emergency, as long as they are provided with the protections and PPE required for early entry. Each worker must perform only the tasks related to mitigating the emergency, wait at least four hours after the pesticide application is complete before entering the treated area, and wait at least until any inhalation exposure level listed on the product label has been reached or any applicable ventilation criteria have been met.

A state, tribal, or federal agency that has jurisdiction must declare that circumstances exist, have occurred, or are forecasted that might cause an agricultural emergency where an establishment is located. Such circumstances might include flooding, hail, a hurricane, a tornado, or frost.

Before workers are allowed to go into a treated area where a restricted-entry interval is in effect, all of the following conditions must be met:

• When the pesticide application was made, the employer could not have anticipated the circumstances leading to the emergency.
• The employer had no control over the circumstances that led to the emergency.
• Early entry is the only practice that will prevent or reduce a substantial economic loss involving the crop in that treated area.
• If early entry does not occur, the loss of profit will be greater than the loss that would be expected on the basis of experience and the variation in crop yields in previous years.

To learn more about Pesticide Worker Safety visit our Pesticide Worker Safety Online Training web page.