Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS)

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EPA's Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) aims to reduce pesticide poisonings and injuries among agricultural workers and pesticide handlers. The WPS offers occupational protections to over 2 million agricultural workers and pesticide handlers who work at over 600,000 agricultural establishments. In 2015, EPA revised the WPS to decrease pesticide exposure incidents among farmworkers and their family members. Fewer incidents means a healthier workforce and fewer lost wages, medical bills and absences from work and school.

Pesticide safety training materials with the expanded content required by the 2015 WPS must be used to train workers and handlers. EPA-approved training materials for national use are available on the WPS Materials webpage.

For complete information about the WPS rule requirements, refer to the final WPS rule.

On this page:

Application Exclusion Zone

In September 2024, EPA finalized a rule to restore the pesticide Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ) requirements under the 2015 WPS. The rule will go into effect 60 days after the publication date in the Federal Register. It can be found on www.regulations.gov using Docket ID EPA-HQ-OPP-2022-0133. 

The AEZ is an area surrounding outdoor pesticide application equipment where people are prohibited while pesticides are applied. The AEZ only exists during the application, moves with the equipment during application, and can extend outside of an agricultural establishment (e.g., school grounds, residential neighborhoods). It may have a 25-foot or 100-foot radius, depending on the application type and droplet size used. When the application is over, the AEZ no longer applies.

Pesticide handlers must temporarily suspend the application if workers or other people are in the AEZ, whether those people are on or off the establishment. Pesticide handlers must also temporarily suspend the application if workers or other people are in the AEZ in an area subject to an easement on the establishment. Pesticide handlers may not resume a paused application until people have left the AEZ.

Agricultural employers must not allow any worker or other person (other than appropriately trained and equipped handlers involved in the application) in an AEZ that is within the boundaries of the agricultural establishment. They are responsible for ensuring that AEZ requirements are understood and followed, and employers are prohibited from directing or allowing any of their workers to enter an AEZ.

The AEZ also includes an “immediate family exemption” that allows only farm owners and the farm owners’ immediate family to remain inside enclosed structures or homes during pesticide applications, provided specific conditions are met, as described in further detail here. The exemption does not apply to employees or labor housing.

To learn more about the AEZ, please visit https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-worker-safety/worker-protection-standard-application-exclusion-zone.

Groups Covered by the WPS

The WPS protects two types of employees on farms, forests, nurseries and greenhouses from occupational exposure to agricultural pesticides:

  • Pesticide handlers — those who:
    • mix, load, or apply agricultural pesticides;
    • clean or repair pesticide application equipment; or
    • assist with the application of pesticides.
  • Agricultural workers — those who perform tasks related to growing and harvesting plants on farms or in greenhouses, nurseries or forests.
    • Workers include anyone employed for any type of compensation (including self-employed) doing tasks such as:
      • carrying nursery stock;
      • repotting plants;
      • watering; or
      • other tasks directly related to the production of agricultural plants on an agricultural establishment.*

*Some requirements apply to anyone doing certain tasks, such as handling pesticide application equipment or cleaning or laundering pesticide-contaminated personal protective equipment.

Complying with the WPS

This section provides an overview of who is required to comply with the WPS and a list of compliance requirements.

In general, employers are responsible for WPS compliance. These include:

  • Owners/employers on agricultural establishments that grow and harvest for commercial production:
    • Fruits and vegetables on farms.
    • Timber and trees in forests and nurseries.
    • Plants in greenhouses and nurseries.
  • Employers of researchers who help grow and harvest plants.
  • Employers at commercial pesticide handling establishments

Under the WPS, all employers are required to do the following:

  • Do not retaliate against a worker or handler.
  • Provide annual pesticide safety training.
  • Provide access to specific information for workers and handlers at a central location during normal work hours, including (agricultural employers only):
    • Pesticide applications on the establishment;
    • Safety Data Sheets for pesticides applied on the establishment; and
    • Pesticide safety information that includes emergency information.
  • Provide WPS-required safety, pesticide application, and hazard information to workers and handlers or their designated representative, or to treating medical personnel, if requested. For additional details, see the Designated Representative section of this webpage or Chapter 2 of the WPS How to Comply Manual. See full requirements at 40 CFR 170.311(b).
  • Provide decontamination supplies.
  • Exchange information (between a commercial handler employer and an operator of an agricultural establishment).
  • Provide emergency assistance by making transportation available to a medical care facility in case of a pesticide injury or poisoning and providing information about the pesticide(s) to which the person may have been exposed.

In addition to the duties listed above for all employers, employers of workers are required to do the following:

  • Implement restrictions during applications by keeping workers and other people out of the treated field and application exclusion zones.
  • Implement restricted-entry intervals (REIs).
  • Implement protections for early entry by workers, including:
    • Providing access to labeling information;
    • Specific information on early entry tasks; and
    • Required early entry Personal Protective Equipment.
  • Notify workers about applications and pesticide-treated areas and not to enter during the REI by:
    • providing oral warnings; or
    • posting warning signs.

In addition to the duties listed above for all employers, employers of pesticide handlers are required to do the following:

  • Implement restrictions during applications by ensuring that pesticides applied do not contact workers or other people. Also, handlers must suspend an application if workers or other people are in the application exclusion zone.
  • Monitor handlers working with toxic pesticides.
  • Provide specific instructions for handlers.
  • Provide access to labeling information for handlers.
  • Take steps to ensure equipment safety.
  •  Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):
    • Provide required PPE in clean and good operating condition.
    • Ensure PPE is worn correctly.
    • Provide a clean place for storing personal clothing and removing PPE.
    • Care for, maintain and replace damaged or worn PPE.
    • Replace respirator purifying elements.
    • Dispose of contaminated PPE.
    • Provide instructions for people who clean PPE.
  • Provide a medical evaluation, fit test and respirator training to handlers required to wear a respirator by the pesticide label.

Exceptions to the WPS

The following situations are exceptions from the requirements in the WPS

Designated Representative

The designated representative provision was added to the 2015 revision of the WPS. The following information provides additional explanation of this provision and examples to help groups covered by the WPS understand how to use of the designated representative provision correctly.

Per 40 CFR § 170.305 of the 2015 WPS regulation revision, a “designated representative” is any person(s) designated in writing by a worker or handler to exercise a right of access on his or her behalf to request and obtain a copy of the pesticide application and hazard information from a worker’s employer. The employer is required to make this information available to the employee or his/her designated representative under §170.311(b)(1) of this part.

Examples of why a worker or handler may choose to utilize a designated representative include:

  • If there is a language barrier;
  • If the worker or handler has moved and cannot access the information themselves;
  • If a case worker needs information for workers compensation review.

Under the regulations, a designated representative may request WPS-required pesticide application and hazard information for applications made while the worker or handler was employed on the establishment (going as far back as two years). This request, made to the worker’s employer, must be in writing.

Under the regulations, the written request must contain the following:

  • The name of the worker or handler being represented;
  • A description of the specific information being requested, including:
    • Dates of employment of the worker or handler,
    • The date(s) for which the records are requested,
    • Type of work conducted by the worker or handler during the period for which the records are requested, and
    • The specific application and hazard information requested;
  • A written statement clearly designating the representative to obtain this information on the worker’s or handler’s behalf, with the worker’s or handler’s printed name and signature, the date of the designation, and the printed name and contact information for the designated representative; and
  • Where the worker’s employer should send the information, if the information is to be sent.

As specified in 40 CFR 170.311(b)(1), designated representatives may access:

  • A copy of the safety data sheet.
  • The name, EPA registration number, and active ingredient(s) of the pesticide product.
  • The crop or site treated and the location and description of the treated area.
  • The date(s) and times the application started and ended.
  • The duration of the applicable labeling-specified restricted-entry interval for that application.

Under the regulations, the employer must provide a copy or access to the requested information within 15 days of receiving the request. If the worker’s employer has previously provided the record without cost to the same worker or handler or their designated representative, a reasonable fee may be charged for duplicate records, but the fee may not include any discriminatory costs or overhead charges.

See page 25 of Chapter 2 of the How to Comply Manualfor additional information. See full requirements at 40 CFR 170.311(b).

All states enforce the federal WPS. Additionally, some states have implemented their own worker protection laws. Examples of designated representative requirements from states include:

To get more information on or ask a question about the designated representative provision, email us at [email protected].

More Information on the Overall WPS

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Last updated on October 4, 2024