§ 170.501 - Training requirements for handlers.

§ 170.501 Training requirements for handlers.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 89 FR 80787, Oct. 4, 2024.

(a) General requirement. Before any handler performs any handler activity involving a pesticide product, the handler employer must ensure that the handler has been trained in accordance with this section within the last 12 months, except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section.

(b) Exceptions. The following handlers need not be trained under this section:

(1) A handler who is currently certified as an applicator of restricted use pesticides under part 171 of this chapter.

(2) A handler who is certified or licensed as a crop advisor by a program acknowledged as appropriate in writing by EPA or the State or Tribal agency responsible for pesticide enforcement, provided that a requirement for such certification or licensing is pesticide safety training that includes all the topics set out in § 170.501(c)(2) or § 170.501(c)(3) as applicable depending on the date of training.

(c) Training programs.

(1) Pesticide safety training must be presented to handlers either orally from written materials or audio-visually, at a location that is reasonably free from distraction and conducive to training. All training materials must be EPA-approved. The training must be presented in a manner that the handlers can understand, such as through a translator. The training must be conducted by a person who meets the handler trainer requirements of paragraph (c)(4) of this section, and who must be present during the entire training program and must respond to handlers' questions.

(2) The pesticide safety training materials must include, at a minimum, all of the following topics:

(i) Format and meaning of information contained on pesticide labels and in labeling, including safety information such as precautionary statements about human health hazards.

(ii) Hazards of pesticides resulting from toxicity and exposure, including acute and chronic effects, delayed effects, and sensitization.

(iii) Routes by which pesticides can enter the body.

(iv) Signs and symptoms of common types of pesticide poisoning.

(v) Emergency first aid for pesticide injuries or poisonings.

(vi) How to obtain emergency medical care.

(vii) Routine and emergency decontamination procedures.

(viii) Need for and appropriate use of personal protective equipment.

(ix) Prevention, recognition, and first aid treatment of heat-related illness.

(x) Safety requirements for handling, transporting, storing, and disposing of pesticides, including general procedures for spill cleanup.

(xi) Environmental concerns such as drift, runoff, and wildlife hazards.

(xii) Warnings about taking pesticides or pesticide containers home.

(xiii) Requirements of this subpart that must be followed by handler employers for the protection of handlers and other persons, including the prohibition against applying pesticides in a manner that will cause contact with workers or other persons, the requirement to use personal protective equipment, the provisions for training and decontamination, and the protection against retaliatory acts.

(3) EPA intends to make available to the public training materials that may be used to conduct training conforming to the requirements of this section. Within 180 days after a notice of availability of such training materials appears in the Federal Register, but no earlier than January 1, 2018, training programs required under this section must include, at a minimum, all of the topics listed in § 170.501(c)(3)(i)-(xiv) instead of the points listed in § 170.501(c)(2)(i)-(xiii).

(i) All the topics required by § 170.401(c)(3).

(ii) Information on proper application and use of pesticides.

(iii) Handlers must follow the portions of the labeling applicable to the safe use of the pesticide.

(iv) Format and meaning of information contained on pesticide labels and in labeling applicable to the safe use of the pesticide.

(v) Need for and appropriate use and removal of all personal protective equipment.

(vi) How to recognize, prevent, and provide first aid treatment for heat-related illness.

(vii) Safety requirements for handling, transporting, storing, and disposing of pesticides, including general procedures for spill cleanup.

(viii) Environmental concerns, such as drift, runoff, and wildlife hazards.

(ix) Handlers must not apply pesticides in a manner that results in contact with workers or other persons.

(x) The responsibility of handler employers to provide handlers with information and protections designed to reduce work-related pesticide exposures and illnesses. This includes providing, cleaning, maintaining, storing, and ensuring proper use of all required personal protective equipment; providing decontamination supplies; and providing specific information about pesticide use and labeling information.

(xi) Handlers must suspend a pesticide application if workers or other persons are in the application exclusion zone within the boundaries of the agricultural establishment and must not resume the application while workers or other persons remain in the application exclusion zone, except for appropriately trained and equipped handlers involved in the application, persons not employed by the establishment in an area subject to an easement that prevents the agricultural employer from temporarily excluding those persons from that area, and the owner(s) of the agricultural establishment and members of their immediate families who remain inside closed buildings, housing, or shelters on the establishment, provided that the handlers have been expressly instructed by the owner(s) of the agricultural establishment that only immediate family members remain inside those closed buildings, housing, or shelters and that the application should proceed despite the presence of the owner(s) or their immediate family members inside those closed buildings, housing, or shelters.

(xii) Handlers must be at least 18 years old.

(xiii) The responsibility of handler employers to ensure handlers have received respirator fit-testing, training and medical evaluation if they are required to wear a respirator by the product labeling.

(xiv) The responsibility of agricultural employers to post treated areas as required by this rule.

(4) The person who conducts the training must have one of the following qualifications:

(i) Be designated as a trainer of certified applicators or pesticide handlers by EPA or the State or Tribal agency responsible for pesticide enforcement.

(ii) Have completed an EPA-approved pesticide safety train-the-trainer program for trainers of handlers.

(iii) Be currently certified as an applicator of restricted use pesticides under part 171 of this chapter.

(d) Recordkeeping.

(1) Handler employers must maintain records of training for handlers employed by their establishment for two years after the date of the training. The records must be maintained on the establishment and must include all of the following information:

(i) The trained handler's printed name and signature.

(ii) The date of the training.

(iii) Information identifying which EPA-approved training materials were used.

(iv) The trainer's name and documentation showing that the trainer met the requirements of § 170.501(c)(4) at the time of training.

(v) The handler employer's name.

(2) The handler employer must, upon request by a handler trained on the establishment, provide to the handler a copy of the record of the training that contains the information required under § 170.501(d)(1).

[80 FR 67567, Nov. 2, 2015, as amended at 85 FR 68781, Oct. 30, 2020]