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COMMUNICATING THE RISKS OF PESTICIDE EXPOSURE TO AGRICULTURAL WORKERS
Citation:
PETERSEN, D. COMMUNICATING THE RISKS OF PESTICIDE EXPOSURE TO AGRICULTURAL WORKERS. Presented at Society of Risk Analysis, Baltimore, MD, December 04, 2006.
Description:
The goals of the USEPA pesticide worker safety program are to protect human health and the environment by ensuring the competency of pesticide applicators to minimize pesticide exposure to occupational pesticide users and agricultural field workers, to assure use of pesticides, and to engage health care providers in improving the recognition and management of pesticide poisonings. The worker safety program includes statutory requirements, regulations and label requirements. To augment these components, USEPA uses education, outreach and training, guidance documents, partnerships, compliance assistance and capacity building, and oversight of implementing agencies. A new hazard communication pilot study was undertaken to identify the best ways to communicate pesticide risk with agricultural workers. In many areas, most agricultural workers are native Spanish speakers, and literacy rates can be low. Effectively communicating the risks of various pesticide exposures can be challenging. We developed and tested a variety of color-coded, icon-based tools for communicating PPE use, potential symptoms of over-exposure and actions workers could take to avoid pesticide exposures. The symbols were tested with agricultural workers in both Florida and California in the spring of 2006. A hazard training program was developed based upon the best-rated symbols, and again the training program was evaluated in focus groups in Florida and California agricultural workers during 2006. Through research, and stakeholder review, USEPA has identified gaps in the framework of the agricultural worker protection regulations. These gaps compromise USEPA’s ability to ensure the safe use of pesticides and the protection of pesticide exposed agricultural workers. To reduce risk, ensure competency, promote consistency, and raise the standards of the federal program to those of many states, regulatory amendments are necessary. These studies identify risk communication tools that can be used to help fill those gaps.