United States Office of Enforcement EPA 305-F-98-024

Environmental Protection & Compliance Assurance September 1998 Agency Washington, DC 20460 www.epa.gov

Agrichemicals

WPS – Posted Warnings

Ag Center

Helping Agriculture Comply with

Environmental Requirements

F O C U S O N

Posted Warning Signs

The Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is a regulation issued by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 and amended in 1995. It covers pesticides that are

used in the production of agricultural plants on farms, forests, nurseries, and greenhouses. The

WPS requires you to take steps to reduce the risk of pesticide-related illness and injury if you (1)

use such pesticides, or (2) employ workers or pesticide handlers who are exposed to such

pesticides.

 

This fact sheet will help you understand how to comply with WPS requirements for posting signs

to warn people about pesticide-treated areas. The questions answered here were submitted to the

Agency by people seeking clarification on this part of the regulation. The questions and answers

were released by EPA’s Office of Compliance on March 15, 1995.

If a treated area has unlimited

entry points, how often should

treated-area warning signs be

posted to be "visible from all

usual points of entry?" Every

100 feet?

The rule requires that signs be visible at

all usual points of worker entry,

including at least each access road, each

border with any labor camp adjacent to

the treated area, and each footpath and

other walking route that enters the

treated area. If there are many usual

points of entry, then signs must be 

visible from all usual points of entry. 

When there are no usual points of

worker entry, signs must be posted in the

corners of the treated area or a location

affording maximum visibility. In areas

where there are unlimited points of

entry, the agricultural employer must

determine the usual points of entry and

make signs visible from those points of

entry. 
Ag Center Fact Sheet Series Page 2

Agrichemicals/WPS – Posted Warnings

The Ag Center

welcomes

comments on this

document and its

other services.

National Agriculture Compliance

Assistance Center

901 N. 5th Street

Kansas City, KS 66101

Toll-free: 1-888-663-2155

Internet: www.epa.gov/agriculture

Fax: 913-551-7270

United States Environmental

Protection Agency

Washington, DC 20460

If a person owns private forest

land that the public frequently

enters, does he have any

responsibility to post this land

prior to or after the treatment

with a pesticide?

The fact that the public enters does not

trigger the WPS requirement for posting. 

The WPS does prohibit an agricultural

employer from allowing any person to

remain in the area during the pesticide

application. In addition, there are

specific labeling statements which

prohibit the application of the product

in such a manner that will contact

persons either directly or through drift. 

Also, there may be non-WPS label

specific or additional state or local

requirements that are applicable.

For more information

You can get more facts about

compliance by calling the Ag Center’s

toll-free number. Materials can be sent

to you by fax or mail, or you can talk to

an Ag Center representative. For a list

of all publications available from the Ag

Center, request document number

10001, “Ag Center Publications.”