Worker Protection Standard

The Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is a set of federal regulations that applies to all pesticides used in agricultural plant production. If you employ any person to produce a plant or plant product for sale, and use any type of pesticide on that crop, WPS applies to you.

The WPS requires that you provide to your employees three types of protection from pesticide exposure. You must: 1) inform the employees about exposure; 2) protect them from exposure; and 3) miti- gate any pesticide exposures that they might receive.

The WPS requirements appear in the “Direction for Use” part of the pesticide label. For more information, see the EPA Worker Protection Standard website at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/worker.htm. You may also call the Texas Department of Agriculture Pesticide Worker Protection Program at (512) 463-7622 or (800) 835-5832.