EPA will issue 2 final amendments to the WPS. The amendments will go into effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
The 1st amendment decreases from 30 to 7 days, the time during which decontamination supplies (soap, water, paper towels) must be available to workers entering fields when low toxicity pesticides are used. Low toxicity pesticides are those which have restricted entry intervals of 4 hours or less. Until now, the standards required decontamination supplies to be available whenever a worker performed any activity in a pesticide-treated area or where entry had been restricted within the past 30 days.
The 2nd amendment allows employers to replace the Spanish language on warning signs with another language tailored to suit the language most often used by workers. The English portion of the sign must remain. The standards require warning signs that are visible from all usual points of worker entry into the treated areas.
Also, as part of the 2nd amendment, EPA is permitting the use of smaller warning signs in nurseries and greenhouses (Photo). Signs of 4.5 by 5 in. can be used if the distance between signs is 25 feet or less; signs of 7 by 8 in. can be used if the distance is 50 feet or less.
