Pesticides

Pesticide Safety Regulations

The pesticide worker safety regulations specify safe work practices for employees who handle pesticides or work in treated areas. The term "handle" refers to any activity related to the application of pesticides. Handle includes mixing, loading, applying, repairing or cleaning contaminated equipment, and handling unrinsed containers. The Department of Pesticide Regulation and the local agricultural commissioner enforce the worker safety regulations. Here are important requirements of the regulations, which are in title 3 of the California Code of Regulations (cited section numbers are to that source):

Employer/Employee Responsibilities (§ 6702): Agricultural employers must:

1. Know the regulations and requirements on pesticide label

2. Tell employees, in a language they understand, about the pesticides used, pesticide safety hazards, personal protective equipment required, other equipment used, work procedures, and pesticide safety regulations

3. Ensure that employees work safely and follow all safety rules.

Employees must:

1. Use the personal protective equipment (PPE)

2. Follow safety rules in regulations and on pesticide labeling.

Hazard Communication (§§ 6723, 6723.1, 6761, 6761.1): Hazard communication ensures that employees know the hazards they may face and what to do to protect themselves from those hazards. Through proper hazard communication, employees will know about the hazards, safe work practices and where records are kept. Pesticide Safety Information Series (PSIS) leaflets A-8 and A-9 are the written hazard communication programs for handlers and field workers, respectively.

Agricultural employers must display PSIS A-8 and A-9 for employees to read. Agricultural employers must also display the following for pesticide handlers and field workers to read:

1. Identification of the treated area

2. Time and date of applications

3. Restricted entry interval (REI)

4. Pesticide product name, active ingredient and EPA registration number.

Agricultural employers must make available:

1. Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), if available, for the pesticides used

2. PSIS leaflets applicable to the use situation.

Training (§§ 6724, 6764, 6770): Employees who handle pesticides must receive adequate training in the use of pesticides. Training must occur before the employee begins to handle pesticides. Handlers must receive refresher training each year. Training of handlers must include the following for each pesticide or group of chemically similar pesticides (such as organophosphates):

1. The meaning of information on the pesticide label concerning human health effects

2. Hazards of the pesticide, including acute and long term effects

3. Pesticide poisoning symptoms

4. Routes through which pesticides can enter the body

5. Emergency first aid

6. How to get emergency medical care

7. Routine and emergency decontamination procedures

8. Need, limitations, use and cleaning of PPE

9. Prevention, recognition and first aid for heatrelated illnesses

10. Safety requirements for handling pesticides

11. Environmental concerns

12. Warnings about taking pesticides home

13. Regulatory requirements, MSDS, and PSIS

14. Purpose and requirements of medical supervision, when applicable

15. Location of the written hazard communication program, PSIS leaflets and MSDSs

16. Rights as an employee.

Once training is received, then employees must sign the training record. Handler training records must be kept at the work headquarters.

Field workers must receive training every 5 years; and must receive training before working in treated fields.

The training must include:

1. Importance of routine washing after exposure

2. The meaning of posting and REIs

3. Where exposure to pesticides might occur

4. Routes of exposure

5. Acute and long term effects of pesticides

6. Symptoms of overexposure

7. First aid and where to get emergency medical care

8. Warnings about taking pesticides home

9. The hazard communication program

10. Rights as an employee.

Employees have the right to receive information about pesticides to which employees may be exposed (or it can be given to the employee's physician). Employees cannot be fired for exercising their rights.

Labels and Other Warnings (§§ 6602, 6618, 6674, 6678, 6776): Pesticide labels must be available at the work site. If pesticides are transferred from their original container, the new container must be labeled with the identity of the pesticide, the signal word from the product label and the name of the person or firm responsible.

Before applying pesticides, the applicator must notify the farmer of the application before it takes place. The notice must include:

1. Date and time of the application

2. Name, EPA registration number and active ingredient of the pesticide used

3. Safety precautions required by label or regulations

4. Location of the area to be treated

5. The REI.

The farmer is responsible for warning employees and contractors who may enter or walk within ¼ mile of a treated area. The warning must include:

1. Location of the treated area

2. Any REI

3. Instructions not to enter the field until the REI expires.

The farmer may substitute posting of the treated field for the oral warning, if the label does not require both oral warnings and field posting.

Emergency Medical Care (§§ 6726, 6766): Agricultural employers must make prior arrangements for emergency medical care, and tell employees the location of the medical facility in case someone is sick or injured on the job. If employees handle pesticides, agricultural employers must post at the work site (or on the work vehicle if there is no fixed work site) the name, address and telephone number of the physician, clinic or emergency room able to provide care. Agricultural employers must make sure that employees are taken to a medical care facility if employees become injured or ill while handling pesticides or exposed to pesticide residues on the job.

Restricted Entry Interval (§§ 6770, 6772, 6774): A restricted entry interval (REI) is the period of time, following a pesticide application, when people are not allowed to go into the treated field for picking (handharvesting), thinning, weeding, tying, pruning, limb propping or similar work. REIs for many pesticides are stated on pesticide labels; others are established by regulation. Both must be observed.

Reentry for activities with no contact, such as operating tractors, is allowed if special protection is used to prevent exposure to residues. People incorporating pesticides into the soil during an REI must wear the same PPE required for the applicator.

People may enter the field during the REI for limited contact activities, such as irrigation, provided certain conditions are met. Those conditions include:

1. Both oral warning and field posting are not required by the label

2. It has been at least 4 hours since the application

3. Inhalation exposure is below acceptable levels

4. Exposure is minimal and limited to the feet, lower legs, hands and forearms

5. The person is wearing PPE required for early entry workers

6. They do not work in treated fields for more than 8 hours

7. The need for the activity is unforeseen.

Early Entry Requirements (§ 6771): If employees enter a field prior to the expiration of the REI, employees must be informed of the requirements on the label relating to:

1. Health hazards

2. First aid

3. Symptoms of poisoning

4. Use of PPE required

5. Symptoms and first aid for heat-related illness

6. The need for washing when out of the treated area.

Agricultural employers must provide PPE required for early entry. Employees must not take PPE home to clean it; cleaning is the responsibility of agricultural employers. One pint of water for eye flushing must be immediately accessible for each employee, if the pesticide label requires eye protection. Employers must provide early entry workers with soap, water and towels to wash when they remove their PPE.

Respiratory Protection(§§ 6738, 6739): Where a pesticide handler is required to use a respirator, an agricultural employer must first:

1. Identify a physician or other professional licensed health care provider (PLHCP) to perform a medical evaluation and get a written recommendation from the PLHCP on the employee's ability to use a respirator.

2. Establish a written respiratory protection program that describes worksite-specific procedures for selecting, fit-testing, using, cleaning, inspecting, storing and repairing respirators and the procedures for employee medical evaluation, training, handling emergencies, and regularly evaluating the respiratory protection program.

3. Designate a respirator "program administrator" to administer the respiratory protection program and conduct the required evaluations of program effectiveness.

4. Provide training on various kinds of personal protective equipment to ensure each employee can demonstrate knowledge and skills specific to the use of respiratory protection in the workplace.

Pesticide Postings: The California Department of Pesticide Regulation requires various postings; they are listed in the section "Pesticide Postings" on page 105.

Employers violating these provisions may be subject to both criminal and civil violations.