Oct 6, 2015

EPA Updates Worker Protection Standard

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has revised its worker protection standards to i ncrease safety and protect agricultural workers including greenhouse and nursery employees.

Among the changes are:

• First-time ever minimum age requirement: Children under 18 are prohibited from handling pesticides.
• Expanded training includes instructions to reduce take-home exposure from pesticides on work clothing and other safety topics.
• Annual mandatory training to inform farmworkers on the required protections afforded to them.
• Expanded mandatory posting of no-entry signs for the most hazardous pesticides. The signs prohibit entry into pesticide-treated fields until residues decline to a safe level.
• Requirement to provide more than one way for farmworkers and their representatives to gain access to pesticide application information and safety data sheets – centrally-posted, or by requesting records.
• Mandatory record-keeping to improve states’ ability to follow up on pesticide violations and enforce compliance. Records of application-specific pesticide information, as well as farmworker training, must be kept for two years.

For more detail information on the standard and the new revisions, visit www2.epa.gov/pesticide-worker-safety/revisions-worker-protection-standard.