Proposed pesticide rule changes by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would mean new and expanded safety requirements for farms with hired labor.

The proposals to the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (AWPS) are the first such changes to federal rules governing pesticide use on farms in more than 20 years.

Family farms would be exempt from the AWPS changes.

“EPA’s proposal aims to pull farmworkers up toward the same level of protection from environmental and health hazards that other professions have had for decades,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in announcing the proposal earlier this year.

There are more than 2 million farm laborers in the U.S., many of whom are migrant workers. The proposed AWPS changes are intended to protect them and their families from pesticide exposure, which the EPA estimates ads up to $10 million to $15 million per year in missed work and school days, medical bills and lost wages.

The proposed rules changes include the following:

• Annual mandatory pesticide training for farmworkers, covering restrictions on entering pesticide-treated fields and other areas, decontamination supplies, protective equipment and methods for reducing take-home exposure from pesticides on work clothes.
• Expanded mandatory posting of no-entry signs into fields treated with the most hazardous pesticides, and the creation of 25-100 foot no-entry buffer areas around pesticide-treated fields.
• Mandatory pesticide recordkeeping to help states better follow up on pesticide violations and enforce compliance. Records of application-specific pesticide information, worker training and early entry notification would need to be kept for two years.
• Children under age 16 would be prohibited from handling pesticides , except those on family farms.
• Personal protective equipment must meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.
• Farmworkers or their representatives must receive information specific to pesticide application, including product labels and Safety Data Sheets.

The additional annual cost to farms as a result of the rules changes would be $5 for a typical farm worker and $60 for a skilled pesticide handler, according to the EPA.

The EPA is accepting public comment on the proposed rules changes through June 17, 2014.

By Steve Leer

Google