The NYS Department of Health has organized a website with extensive information on school environmental health, defined as the way the physical environment of school buildings and school grounds influences the overall health and safety of occupants. The key role that IPM plays in protecting school children and staff is prominent and includes resources from the NYS IPM Program. If you have not visited the site in a while, check it out at https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/indoors/healthy_schools/index.htm
Category Archives: training
IPM for Turf on School Grounds
The EPA has another great webinar coming up on Tuesday, March 15th.
You must have Adobe Connect to watch and listen to this free online webinar. A “Quick Start” link is included on the EPA website.
Whether school turf management has been part of your job for years or you’re just starting out, this webinar will describe how you can implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices into your turf management program. This webinar will provide insight for improving the quality and playability of your athletic and recreational fields. You will leave with an increased understanding of the importance of IPM in turf maintenance, cultural and physical control options, record keeping and key turf issues that can be addressed and applied to your program.
Join in to learn how you can incorporate IPM into your school district’s turf management program.
Featured presenters will be:
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Kim Pope Brown, Pesticide Safety Education Coordinator, Louisiana State University
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Alec Kowalewski, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Turf Specialist, Oregon State University
Register now and you’ll receive an email confirmation with information on how to join in the webinar. Tuesday March 15 — 2 to 3:30pm
Pesticide Misapplications? The Costs Are High
A chemical smell wafting through an upstate middle-school classroom last fall ended up sending six students to the hospital. What happened?
A member of the custodial staff sprayed wasp killer by a fresh-air intake. Some of that spray ended up in a second floor classroom. Fourteen students and two staff members felt ill, according to a newspaper account; in fact, the school was evacuated for more than a half hour.
The school was fined $5,500 for violating three pesticide regulations. But incidents like this are preventable by practicing integrated pest management.
Many state regulations pertain to pesticide use in and around schools. You can find a synopsis here. But first and foremost — anyone who applies pesticides on school property must meet pesticide application certification requirements. (The same applies to child care centers, office buildings, or any other commercial or public property.) If the certified applicator is a school employee, then the school itself must be registered and appropriately insured.
Neither the school’s pesticide-application notification requirements nor the Child Safe Playing Fields Act were violated, since each provides exemptions for the use of small containers of aerosol products in an imminent threat from stinging and biting insects. Regardless, a certified pesticide applicator must apply them, and, if applied by a school staffer, the school must be registered.
School staffers can obtain and maintain commercial pesticide licenses after getting the right education credits and passing their exams. You can find information about pesticide certification on the Pesticide Safety Education Program website, including information about upcoming classes.
Consider: without the basic knowledge inherent in getting a license, how can you be sure that staff are aware of the laws that keep incidents such as this from occurring? Who will be qualified to choose a pest management contractor when the need to protect students from the threat of pests — whether increased risk of asthma from mice or cockroaches, rashes from poison ivy, or anaphylactic shock from a wasp sting — relies on an expert’s help? And how will school personnel know what steps they can take to not only deal with existing (and potentially costly) pest issues, but also prevent new ones from taking place?
Answer: Be sure your maintenance staff gets the education needed to stay up to date with the latest pest management information.
The New York State Integrated Pest Management Program has resources to help schools with their pest issues. Visit the NYS IPM Program’s school webpage. Learn about specific pests, including stinging insects. Sign up for our blog, The ABCs of School and Childcare Pest Management. Send staff to classes offered by our experts.
We are here to help address your pest management needs.
Pest Prevention by Design?
Another great EPA webinar is coming up next week. Pest Prevention by Design helps school administrators, engineers, and ‘green’ builders understand how to design pests out of buildings rather than be in a battle to control them after they’ve entered.
On Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at 2:00pm, you can be part of a live webinar (online workshop) simply by registering. From your desk, laptop or tablet, you can watch, listen and interact as desired while two pest exclusion experts share their knowledge. If you’ve never used Adobe Connect, get a quick overview at: http://www.adobe.com/products/adobeconnect.htm
For example, where a school may traditionally address a rat infestation with rat poison, the guidelines would recommend sealing the gap in the door frame that let the animals enter in the first place, putting a better lid on the dumpster out back, or removing the English ivy from the landscaping (a preferred rodent habitat). By following these recommendations, we can keep pests out, thereby improving indoor air quality and saving money over the life of the building.
Join us to learn how you can better incorporate pest prevention in your school district’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program.
Featured presenters will be:
Chris Geiger, Ph.D., IPM Program Manager, City of San Francisco
Robert Corrigan, Ph.D., Rodent IPM Specialist, RMC Pest Management Consulting
Space is limited to the first 1,000 to attend, and that number is not unexpected. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to join the webinar.
Join the EPA’s School IPM Listserv
Stay informed of the EPA’s latest news and be part of our nationwide community.
IPM is smart, sensible, sustainable approach to managing pests that emphasizes pest prevention and the appropriate use of pesticides.
The Purpose of EPA’s School IPM Listserv?
To share information on school IPM with a broad cross-section of school administrators, business officials, facility managers, nurses, students, parents, university extension, and others with interest in pest management and healthy school environments. We will highlight common sense strategies to reduce pests and unnecessary exposure to pesticides in schools. Subscribers will learn about the work of EPA’s Center of Expertise for School IPM and the resources it makes available as well as significant EPA Regional activities.
You’ll be aware of upcoming webinars, news from EPA, the Center of Expertise for School IPM, and The IPM Institute. Join the conversation or quietly stay on top of new research, new concerns and upcoming conferences and workshops.