No-Contact Early Entry

After any inhalation exposure level listed on the product label has been reached, or any WPS ventilation criteria have been met, workers may be permitted into a treated area during a restricted-entry interval if they will not touch or be touched by any pesticide residues, including on plants, on or in soil, in water, or in air. This is referred to as "no-contact early entry." Avoiding contact by using PPE does not qualify as no-contact early entry.

No-contact early-entry workers do not need to be provided with the special protections for early entry. Examples of situations where a worker would not be expected to contact pesticide residues in a treated area after sprays, dusts, and vapors have cleared out of the air include the following:

• The worker is in an enclosed cab on a vehicle or in an open cab in a treated area where plants cannot brush against the worker or drip pesticides onto him or her.
• Protected by footwear, the worker is walking in an aisle, road, or footpath where plants or other treated surfaces cannot brush against the worker or drip pesticides onto him or her.
• After a pesticide application through an injection or incorporation into the soil, the worker is doing tasks that do not involve touching or disrupting the soil subsurface.

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