2.3 Turf Management & Lawn Care: Customer Pesticide Lists, Neighbor Notice & Posting Requirements

2.3 Turf Management & Lawn Care: Customer Pesticide Lists, Neighbor Notice & Posting Requirements

Lawn care is Rhode Island's largest commercial pesticide segment and the one that generates the most public contact — and therefore the most complaints. Section 2.23 of 250-RICR-40-15-2 responds with a right-to-know regime built entirely on notification and posting. None of these duties turn on whether the product is restricted use. They attach to the service relationship, so a general-use crabgrass pre-emergent triggers them exactly as a restricted-use grub product does.

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1. The Regulation's Own Definitions (§ 2.23(A))

Section 2.23 opens by defining five terms, and the definitions decide several exam items on their own:

Two of these carry real weight:

• "Homeowner" includes the occupant and the manager of a multi-unit dwelling, so a tenant or a property manager, not merely the deed holder, is entitled to the written list.
• "Immediate service call" excludes regularly scheduled treatments. A contractor cannot label a routine round-two application an "immediate service call" to escape the 48-hour neighbor notice. The exemption exists for genuine complaints and lawn-threatening outbreaks.
• "End use product" means the diluted material as applied, so the safety, environmental, and health instructions the customer receives must come from the end-use product's label, not from the concentrate label.

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2. The Written Pesticide List Owed to the Homeowner (§ 2.23(B))

Timing matters: the duty attaches after entering into or renewing an agreement to apply pesticides for lawn or turf pests, and before the initial application of such pesticides.

The applicator must provide the homeowner a written list of those pesticides which may be used, containing:

1. The common name and most likely trade name of each pesticide; and
2. Any post-application safety, environmental, or health instructions specified on the label for the end use product.

In addition to that list, the applicator must inform the homeowner in writing that they may request a copy of:

• The label, and/or
• The material safety data sheet (today's safety data sheet), and/or
• The EPA Fact Sheet, if available,

for any pesticide which may be used. The Director may also require inclusion of additional health, safety, or environmental instructions generated by EPA, DEM, or the Department of Health.

Note the phrase "which may be used." This is a forward-looking disclosure of the whole program at the start of the season, not a product-by-product disclosure on the day of each visit.

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3. Contiguous Neighbor Notice — The 48-Hour Rule (§ 2.23(C))

Any contiguous neighbor to a property under a lawn care agreement may request the applicator to provide notice 48 hours in advance of each application.

Three operational rules follow:

1. It is request-driven. The applicator owes nothing to a neighbor who has not asked. Once asked, the duty attaches to each application.
2. Any of three delivery methods works — telephone, mail, or in person.
3. If 48-hour advance notice cannot be given, the applicator shall leave written notice at that house following the application. The fallback is not "skip it"; it is a written after-the-fact notice.

The immediate service call exemption: advance notice is not required for immediate service calls. In those cases, the applicator leaves written notification following the application at the requesting neighbor's house. Because "immediate service call" is defined to exclude regularly scheduled treatments, the exemption cannot be stretched to cover a routine round.

4. Post-Application Written Notice at the Treated Property (§ 2.23(D))

Upon completion of each application, the applicator must leave written notice at the property treated containing five items:

1. The product name of each pesticide applied and the EPA registration number
2. A telephone number of the applicator or the applicator's company
3. The telephone number of the Department of Environmental Management
4. The name of the person(s) certified or licensed by the Department, as well as any person applying the pesticide under the direct supervision of a certified or licensed commercial applicator who participated in the planning and execution of the application
5. The applicator's certification and/or license number

Item 3 is the one candidates forget. Rhode Island requires the DEM telephone number on the customer's leave-behind notice, so the homeowner has a direct route to the regulator. Very few states require this, and it is a high-value exam fact.

Note how this dovetails with the general invoice requirement in § 2.6(B)(7), which is covered in Section 1.5 of this guide. A lawn care applicator is satisfying two overlapping paperwork duties on every visit, and a well-designed service ticket carries all of the elements of both.

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5. Posting Signs at the Treated Property (§ 2.23(E) and (G))

At the time of each application, the applicator must post signs at conspicuous points of access to the property and instruct the customer as to their appropriate removal. The regulation says conspicuous points of access "shall include but not be limited to, unobstructed abutting yard, walkways, paths, etc."

The Exact Sign Specification

Signs posted by commercial companies shall be no less than 20 square inches (4" x 5") and shall be printed on waterproof stock in dark letters on a white field with the following information:

Memorize the four numbers: 20 square inches / 4" x 5", ½ inch for the headline, ¼ inch for the keep-posted line, and 48 hours for the posting period — extended whenever the label specifies longer.

A frequent distractor swaps the two letter heights. The headline is the taller one at ½ inch; the keep-posted instruction is the smaller ¼ inch minimum.

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6. Public Recreation Facilities (§ 2.23(F))

This duty falls on a different party. Prior to commencing each application of a pesticide, the manager of a public recreation facility shall post a notice in the place most likely to inform those who make use of the facility.

• The notice shall remain in place for 48 hours after completion of the application.
• It shall list "that pesticides were applied," the date of chemical application, a contact person and phone number, and the areas treated.

Remember the definition: public recreation facilities are golf courses, playgrounds, athletic facilities, school grounds, and parks. A golf course superintendent, a municipal parks director, and a school facilities manager all carry this posting duty personally — it does not transfer to the contractor, though the contractor obviously must supply the information.

Finally, § 2.23(H): each applicator shall make any written material required by the rule readily available to the Department upon request. The customer list, the neighbor notice log, and the leave-behind notices are all inspectable records.

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7. One Job, Six Duties

A lawn care company signs a new annual contract for a single-family home in Cranston. A neighbor has previously asked for advance notice. Here is the full compliance sequence:

A round-two application later that season would not qualify as an immediate service call, so the neighbor's 48-hour notice is still owed. A same-week return visit prompted by the customer complaining about surviving chinch bugs would qualify, and the neighbor would instead receive written notice after that application.