The Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is a regulation issued by EPA under the authority of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to protect agricultural workers from the effects of exposure to pesticides. It covers pesticides that are used in the production of agricultural plants on farms, forests, nurseries, and greenhouses. The WPS offers protections to over two million agricultural workers (people involved in the production of agricultural plants) and pesticide handlers (people who mix, load, or apply pesticides) that work at over 600,000 agricultural establishments. The scope of the regulation includes both workers performing hand labor tasks in areas treated with pesticides and those who handle (mix, load, apply, etc.) pesticides in these locations.

When and Where Inspections are Conducted and What They Examine

EPA staff, states and tribes conduct routine WPS agricultural-use inspections at agricultural and commercial handling establishments to ensure users of pesticides subject to the WPS comply with its requirements.  Agricultural establishments are:

• farms,
• nurseries,
• greenhouses, and
• forests.

The inspections involve examining practices of agricultural and handler employers and their employees to assess compliance with:

• product-specific use requirements and restrictions prescribed on pesticide product labeling, such as:
  • personal protective equipment (PPE),
  • restricted entry intervals (REIs), and
  • oral and posted notification requirements; and
• generic WPS requirements, such as:
  • worker/handler pesticides safety training,
  • pesticide safety information,
  • decontamination supplies, and
  • emergency assistance.

The goals in conducting WPS agricultural inspections include:

• Monitoring employer compliance
• Addressing noncompliance
• Documenting violations
• Preventing pesticide misuses and accidental exposure
• Increasing handler and worker safety

WPS inspections are performed during the significant periods of the agricultural production season, such as:

• During and after pesticide application
• During REIs
• Within 30 days after an REI has expired

The WPS Agriculture Inspection Guidance provides useful information to inspectors on how to conduct thorough and nationally consistent agricultural inspections under EPA’s WPS that are also in conformance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

Accomplishments and Violations Reports

States and tribes are required to annually report to EPA specific information on WPS agriculture use inspections and enforcement actions. EPA provides guidelines on reporting WPS compliance monitoring and enforcement activities conducted under its  FIFRA Cooperative Agreement program. 

EPA provides a national view on the implementation status of the WPS compliance monitoring program in the annual Worker Protection Standard (WPS) Inspection and Enforcement Accomplishments Reports. The reports provide information on:

• Numbers of WPS inspections conducted
• Types of WPS violations encountered
• Enforcement actions resulting from those inspections

The data contained in these reports are submitted by states and tribes, or EPA’s regional program staff in instances where EPA manages the FIFRA enforcement program. WPS violations are reported for ten specific WPS violation categories that cover the range of major WPS requirements.  The Overview of WPS Violations During an Inspection Report captures the number of WPS violations by WPS violation category. The data on WPS violations informs the inspection targeting process and helps direct training to areas of the WPS rule most frequently violated.