Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

About the WPS for Agricultural Pesticides

The Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides (WPS) is a federal regulation designed to protect the health and safety of some 4 million agricultural employees in farm, nursery, greenhouse, and forest operations throughout the nation. Consensus has been much greater around the goal of reducing pesticide risks than the means for pursuing it. Like other complex rules with broad coverage, the WPS has generated many legal as well as technical questions that have to be resolved if its worthy purpose is to be served.

In 1992 the U.S. EPA issued the current WPS, superseding a rule promulgated in 1974 and expanding its scope to include not only pesticide handlers who mix, load, apply, or otherwise handle pesticides, but also workers performing hand labor operations in fields treated with pesticides and all others exposed to pesticide residues in agriculture. In general, the WPS contains requirements for pesticide safety training, notification about pesticide applications, provision of decontamination (washing) supplies, emergency medical assistance, use of personal protective equipment, and restrictions for entry into tre ated areas during restricted entry intervals following pesticide application.

In the years since EPA published it as a "final rule" (in August 1992), the WPS has intimidated and baffled a large share of those whom it is supposed to guide. Widespread confusion about it spurred Congress to push back the effective date of key provisions from April 1994 to January 1995. In January 1995, acting on points raised in a petition from the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), the EPA proposed a set of revisions to the WPS. In May 1995, after considering public comments on these proposals, the Agency issued five significant changes in the rule. Several more am endments and exceptions to the rule have been requested and announced, and additional modifications or administrative clarifications may be announced at any time.

Interpretation and implementation continue to be hampered somewhat by uncertainties--about basic provisions, pending changes, relation to state regulations, feasibility under certain agricultural conditions, applicability from case to case, means for compliance, and enforcement. Clearly, more years will pass before all the dust finally settles. Nevertheless, agricultural employers and regulatory personnel are obliged to adjust their practices in accord with the WPS.  In June 2000, the EPA will initiate a nationwide assessment of its agricultural worker protection program.

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