3.3 WPS Training, Information Display & Employer Records
Key Takeaways
- Under the current Worker Protection Standard, both workers and handlers must be trained annually - the old five-year grace period and the old exception for a worker in the first five days are gone.
- Handler training covers everything in worker training plus handler-specific content, including label directions, PPE use and care, safe operation of application equipment, the Application Exclusion Zone, and the handler's duty to suspend the application.
- Trainers must be a certified applicator, a person who has completed an EPA-approved train-the-trainer course, or a person designated by an EPA or state approved training program.
- The central display must carry the pesticide safety poster, the nearest emergency medical facility's name, address and telephone number, and application-specific information, and must be kept accessible whenever workers or handlers are on the establishment.
- Employers must keep training records for two years and make specific product and exposure information available to treating medical personnel promptly.
3.3 WPS Training, Information Display & Employer Records
Core Concept: The Worker Protection Standard (40 C.F.R. pt. 170) has three legs. Section 3.1 covered scope and employer duties, Section 3.2 covered restricted-entry intervals, the Application Exclusion Zone and decontamination. This section covers the third leg: training, information, and records - the paperwork that a Department inspector can audit on any day, in any season, without a drift complaint to trigger it.
Annual Training for Workers and Handlers
The revised WPS changed training frequency and eliminated the old grace period. The current requirements:
| Agricultural worker | Pesticide handler | |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | Every 12 months | Every 12 months |
| Grace period | None. Training must occur before the worker enters a treated area where a pesticide has been applied or an REI has been in effect within the last 30 days | None. Training must occur before performing any handling task |
| Content | Worker content | Worker content plus handler-specific content |
The old rules that allowed training once every five years, and allowed an untrained worker to work for five days before training, are no longer in force. Expect exam items that offer "the worker was trained 14 months ago, which is still valid" as a distractor - it is not.
What Worker Training Must Cover
Among other required points: where and in what form pesticides may be encountered; that pesticides can be on or in plants, soil, irrigation water, and drifting air; how to prevent take-home exposure to the family; the routes pesticides enter the body; signs and symptoms of common types of pesticide poisoning; emergency first aid; how to obtain emergency medical care; decontamination procedures; the meaning of posted warning signs and oral warnings; restricted-entry intervals and the prohibition on entering treated areas; the Application Exclusion Zone and the duty to stay out of it; the requirement that employers provide specific information; the prohibition on retaliation; and how to report suspected use violations to EPA or the state agency.
What Handler Training Adds
Handler content includes the format and meaning of information on pesticide labels and labelling, including safety information such as precautionary statements about human health hazards; safe operation of application equipment; the requirement to use PPE and how to put it on, use it, take it off, clean it, and maintain it; the hazards of heat-related illness; the prohibition on applying a pesticide so that it contacts any person other than a trained and equipped handler; the requirement to suspend an application if anyone other than a trained and equipped handler is in the AEZ; and the handler's own decontamination and emergency requirements.
Who May Train
The trainer must be one of:
- A certified applicator of restricted use pesticides,
- A person who has completed an EPA-approved train-the-trainer program, or
- A person designated in writing as a qualified trainer by a state, tribal, or federal agency having jurisdiction, or by an EPA-approved training program.
Training must be presented in a manner the trainee can understand, in a location reasonably free from distraction, and the trainer must be present during the entire program and available to answer questions.
The Central Display
The agricultural employer must maintain a central location, accessible to workers and handlers, that displays the following whenever workers or handlers are on the establishment:
| Item | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Pesticide safety information | The EPA-approved safety poster or equivalent display |
| Emergency medical facility information | Name, address, and telephone number of the nearest emergency medical facility - and the employer must update it if the facility changes |
| Application-specific information | Product name, EPA registration number, active ingredients, crop or site treated, location and description of the treated area, date and start/end times of the application, and the REI |
Application-specific information must be displayed before the application begins (or at the start of the application if the workers are already on the establishment) and kept posted for 30 days after the REI expires. Handlers and early-entry workers must be informed of the information before they enter.
Informing Medical Personnel
When a worker or handler may have been poisoned or injured by a pesticide, the employer must promptly make available to treating medical personnel:
- The product name, EPA registration number, and active ingredients;
- All first aid and medical information from the label;
- A description of how the pesticide was used; and
- Information about the route, duration, and extent of exposure.
This is the WPS obligation that makes the exposure documentation in Section 2.7 legally necessary rather than merely good practice.
Records
| Record | Retention |
|---|---|
| Worker and handler training records | 2 years from the date of training - name of the trainee, trainer's qualification, date, and EPA-approved materials used |
| Application-specific information | Displayed before the application and kept for 30 days after the REI expires |
| Arkansas application records | 2 years under Ark. Code Ann. Sec. 20-20-215 and the class-specific rules (Section 8.2) |
[!IMPORTANT] Exam Trap: Two Separate Record Systems WPS records and Arkansas application records are different obligations serving different agencies and are not interchangeable. A perfectly kept Arkansas spray log does not satisfy the WPS training-record or central-display requirements, and a complete WPS central display does not satisfy Sec. 20-20-215. An inspection can cite both.
A soybean producer hires four seasonal workers in June. Each was trained under the Worker Protection Standard 14 months ago while working for a different Arkansas farm, and each has a training card. The producer intends to send them into a field where an herbicide with a 24-hour REI was applied nine days ago. What must the producer do first?
Which set of items must the agricultural employer keep at the WPS central display whenever workers or handlers are on the establishment?
A farm manager wants to deliver WPS handler training himself. Which condition would make him a qualified trainer?