WAC 296-307-13025
Pesticide safety training -- Standards
for pesticide handlers -- 40 CFR, § 170.230. (1) Requirement. Before any handler performs any handling task, the handler
employer shall assure that the handler has been trained in
accordance with this section during the last five years,
counting from the end of the month in which the training was
completed.
Note:
In addition to the training required by this section, the agricultural employer shall assure, without exception, that all employees
are trained in accordance with WAC 296-307-550, Employer chemical hazard communication.
(2) Exceptions. The following persons need not be
trained under this section:
(a) A handler who is currently certified as an applicator
of restricted-use pesticides under chapter 17.21 RCW.
(b) A handler who is certified or licensed as a crop
advisor by the Washington state department of agriculture
under RCW 15.58.230: Provided, That a requirement for such
certification or licensing is pesticide safety training that
includes all the information set out in WAC 296-307-13025
(3)(d).
(3) Training programs.
(a) General pesticide safety information shall be
presented to handlers either orally from written materials or
audiovisually. The information must be presented in a manner
that the handlers can understand (such as through a
translator). The presenter also shall respond to handlers'
questions.
(b) The person who conducts the training shall meet at
least one of the following criteria:
(i) Be currently certified as an applicator of
restricted-use pesticides under chapter 17.21 RCW; or
(ii) Be currently designated as a trainer of certified
applicators or pesticide handlers by the Washington state
department of agriculture under chapters 15.58 or 17.21 RCW;
or
(iii) Have completed a pesticide safety train-the-trainer
program approved by a state, federal, or tribal agency having
jurisdiction.
(c) Any person who issues a Washington state department
of agriculture-approved worker protection standard handler
training card must assure that the handler who receives the
training card has been trained in accordance with (d) of this
subsection.
(d) The pesticide safety training materials must convey,
at a minimum, the following information:
(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 part 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.
(4) Verification of training.
(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, if the
handler employer assures that a handler possesses a Washington
state department of agriculture-approved worker protection
standard handler training card, then the requirements of
subsection (1) of this section will have been met.
(b) If the handler employer is aware or has reason to
know that a Washington state department of
agriculture-approved worker protection standard handler
training card has not been issued in accordance with this
section, or has not been issued to the handler bearing the
card, or the handler training was completed more than five
years before the beginning of the current month, a handler's
possession of that card does not meet the requirements of
subsection (1) of this section.