The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is amending the 1992 Worker Protection Standard (WPS). The two amendments will go into effect August 26, 1996. Implementation of the amendments is intended to make the WPS more practical and flexible for states and farmers, while maintaining safeguards for agricultural workers. The summary amendments consist of:

• change requirements for decontamination stations when lower toxicity pesticides are used,
• allow the use of languages other than Spanish when appropriate, and
• simplify posting of pesticide-treated areas in nurseries and greenhouses.

Decontamination Station Requirements

The first amendment will decrease, from 30 days to 7 days, the time during which decontamination supplies (soap, water, and single-use towels/paper) must be available to workers entering fields WHEN LOW TOXICITY PESTICIDES ARE USED. Low toxicity pesticides are those which have restricted entry intervals of 4 hours or less. Until now, the WPS required decontamination supplies to be available whenever a worker performed any activity in a pesticide-treated area or where entry had been resticted within the last 30 days.

WPS Warning Signs

The second amendment allows employers to replace the Spanish language on required warning signs with another laguage used most often by workers in that location. The English portion of the sign must remain. The existing standards require posting of warning signs visible from all usual worker entry points into treated areas.

Also, as part of the second amendment, EPA will permit the use of smaller warning signs in nurseries and greenhouses. Signs measuring approximately four and one-half inches by five inches can be used if the distance between signs is 25 feet or less. If the distance between signs is 50 feet or less, the signs used should be approximately seven inches by eight inches. (Source: EPA, 21 June 1996).

This article originally appeared in the August 23, 1996 issue, p. 151.