Pesticide Safety Training Requirements

Employers must ensure that all workers are trained about general pesticide safety. The training requirement is met for an employee if one of the following conditions is true:

• The employee has received WPS-required training in the past five years, even if he or she has changed employers.
• The employee is currently a certified applicator of restricted-use pesticides.
• The employee is currently trained, as specified in the EPA certification and training regulations, as a handler who works under the supervision of a certified pesticide applicator.

Early-entry workers who will come into contact with anything that has been treated with the pesticide that caused the restricted-entry interval must be trained before they do any early-entry task on the establishment. Other agricultural workers, including early-entry workers who will not come into contact with anything that has been treated with the pesticide that caused the restricted-entry interval, must be trained before they accumulate more than five separate days of entry into treated areas on the establishment where, in the past 30 days, a pesticide has been applied or restricted-entry interval has been in effect. These five days of entry do not have to be consecutive and are not limited to a growing season or calendar year.

Employers must ensure that safety information is presented in a non-technical manner and language that the audience can understand. If necessary, employers should use a translator. The trainers should use written or audiovisual materials, or both; present the training orally or audio-visually; and respond to trainees' questions. Even if an employer does not normally provide pesticide safety training in the language of a particular job applicant, the employer is not exempted from training responsibilities under the WPS. Refusing to hire a qualified applicant because he or she cannot understand the language in which the training is usually provided may constitute discrimination on the basis of national origin.

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