Worker Safety: Two Birds with One Stone

Some of the best solutions in life kill two birds with one stone, which is why Western Growers Insurance Services (WGIS) stands at the ready to provide the pesticide application safety and review program.

All employees who handle and apply pesticides of any sort, including pesticides, insecticides, and herbacides, are required by the U.S. Environmental Protective Agency (EPA) to participate in Worker Protection Standard (WPS) training annually. Besides complying with this federal regulation, it’s also a responsible business practice to ensure employees are well prepared before handling and applying chemicals.

According to the EPA, “to protect the health and safety of workers and handlers, employers are responsible for training them in the safe use of pesticides.” Employers may hire qualified trainers like myself and my colleagues at WGIS to ensure their employees understand the basic concepts of pesticide safety. Our training sessions take place at our members’ facilities.

We take great pride in ensuring all employees who go through our training session become familiarized with the chemicals they will be mixing and/or applying. We take the time to explain how much of that mixture should be used depending on what pests need to be eradicated – be it insects, rodents, worms, flies, fungus, etc. We also explain the differences between the different levels of danger associated with the chemicals.

Containers are marked with various labels, including: Poison/Veneno, Danger/Peligro, Warning/AViso and Caution/Cuidado.  Though we have found that most farmers hire private applicators to apply the category 1 (Poison, Danger) chemicals, farmworkers are required to handle category 2 (Caution/Warning) chemicals, which is why these training sessions are so important.

We also ensure employees are familiar with the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) labels, which clarify which type of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) they should be wearing.

Depending on the pesticide being used, employees may be required to don respirators, gloves or eye protection to stay safe.  Understanding the MSDS labels is critical to successful handling and application of agricultural chemicals.

As mandated by the regulation, we also show the employees a safety video. All farmers in California must be able to show the county inspector that his employees have completed this training annually. In Arizona this training is required once every three years. There is also WPS training for “workers,” who are those who could be affected by the chemicals – thinning crews, harvesters, etc. This training must be completed once every five years in California.

WGIS has many years of experience in providing this training and is here to provide this service for our members anywhere in California and Arizona. This is just one of many training modules we provide, so any interested members are encouraged to contact me at sloya@wga.com or at (760) 353-4960. We can tailor the presentation to our members needs. 

This training is indeed required, but at the end of the day, it just makes good business sense to ensure the hardworking men and women who are charged with delivering Arizona and California’s fresh produce to our dinner tables are adequately trained before handling any toxic pesticides – two birds with one stone.