Teresa Rusinek, Extension Specialist
CCE Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program

The WPS is an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation intended to protect agricultural workers and pesticide handlers from risk of exposure. If you are an agricultural employer or manager, you must know your responsibilities under the WPS and provide WPS training and protections to employees. Employees include:  

• pesticide handlers – those who mix, load or apply pesticides;  
• agricultural workers – those performing tasks related to growing and harvesting plants;
• other persons involved in pesticide applications.  

The WPS states that “Agricultural workers and pesticide handlers must receive training before they begin work and every 12 months.” If EPA registered products are applied on your farm, including those used in the production of organic agricultural plants, the WPS probably applies to you. Check the pesticide product label in the DIRECTIONS FOR USE section. If you see a box labeled AGRICULTURAL USE REQUIREMENTS, the WPS applies where that pesticide product is used in agriculture, whether conventional or organic.  

The EPA has approved a web-based course that you can take to qualify yourself to perform annual WPS training for your agricultural workers and pesticide handlers.  It is self-paced with 12 modules, quizzes and a final exam. The course costs $35.00, and requires 2-3 hours to complete. This web-based course and other training materials are available in Spanish.

To find these training materials go to the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative website:

http://pesticideresources.org/wps/ttt/index.html  

Materials for Training WPS Trainers (pesticideresources.org) 

If you hold a current DEC pesticide applicator license you already qualify to perform WPS training and do not need to take a train the trainer course.