New WPS Requirements

Effective as of January 2, 2017, employers of workers will be required to comply with most of the new requirements included in the 2015 revision of the WPS (some effective dates have been extended). The changes relevant to agricultural employers include the following:

• The required frequency of full training for workers has been increased to annually.
• There is no longer a five-day grace period for worker training; workers must be trained before they work in an area where a pesticide has been used or a restricted-entry interval has been in effect for the past 30 days.
• Handlers are no longer qualified to train workers; worker training must be conducted by certified applicators; state-, tribal-, or federal-approved trainers; or people who have completed an EPA-approved train-the-trainer course.
• The content of worker training has been expanded to include 23 items (effective January 1, 2018).
• Employers must retain training records for two years and provide a record of training to workers upon request.
• Employers must post a warning sign if the restricted-entry interval is greater than 48 hours for outdoor applications or four hours for enclosed space applications.
• During outdoor pesticide applications on farms, forests, and nurseries, employers must prohibit entry into treated areas and the application exclusion zone - an area up to 100 feet around the application equipment.
• Employers must display pesticide application information and safety data sheets at a central location within 24 hours of the end of the pesticide application and before workers enter the treated area. Employers must display both the application information and the data sheets for 30 days after the restricted-entry interval expires, and they must keep the information on hand for two years from the end of the restricted-entry interval. In addition, all of the pesticide application and safety data sheets and other materials must be made available to workers, their designated representatives, or treating medical personnel upon request.
• Employers must display pesticide safety information at a central location and at sites where decontamination supplies are located.
• Pesticide safety information must be displayed in any format - not limited to a poster - with content that meets the new requirements (effective January 1, 2018).
• Early-entry workers must be notified of application specifics, tasks to be performed, conditions of the early-entry exception, and hazard information from the pesticide label.
• The minimum age requirement for early-entry workers is 18 years old.
• Employers must provide one gallon of decontamination water for each worker, and three gallons of decontamination water for each early-entry worker.
• Employers must provide the following information to any medical personnel who are treating exposed workers: the safety data sheets for the product, the product name, the EPA registration number, the active ingredient, and the circumstances of the exposure.

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