ABSTRACT
The worker protection standard (WPS) for agricultural pesticides (40 CFR 170 and 40 CFR 156, Subpart K) establishes a comprehensive set of duties, most of which fall upon farmers and other agricultural employers, designed to protect employees from pesticides to which they may be exposed in their workplace. This system of duties includes protecting applicators and others during the application of pesticides; keeping workers out of recently treated areas for specific time intervals; providing safety training, decontamination supplies, gloves, coveralls, protective eyewear, and other personal protective equipment; providing warnings about applications; and responding to medical emergencies. In order to make its requirements enforceable, the WPS directs pesticide manufacturers to revise several thousand pesticide product labels to include the requirement that users comply with the new regulation. The WPS also requires the labels to be systematically revised to include required safety measures specific to each pesticide, based on its toxicity.
