United States Office of Enforcement EPA 305-F-98-028

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

Agrichemicals

WPS – Eyeflush Requirements

Ag Center

Helping Agriculture Comply with

Environmental Requirements

F O C U S O N

Eyeflush Requirements

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 ensuring that

your employees have access to water for eyeflushing. 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. 

The WPS requires the

agricultural employer to assure

that at least one pint of water is

immediately available to each

worker performing early-entry

activities for which the pesticide

labeling requires protective

eyewear. Similarly, the WPS

requires the handler employer

to assure that at least one pint

of 

water is immediately available

to each handler who is

performing tasks for which the

pesticide labeling requires

protective eyewear. What is

meant by "immediately

available"?

In both sections of the WPS addressing

availability of eyeflush water, the Agency

requires that emergency eyeflush water

be carried by the handler or early-entry

worker, or be on the vehicle (or aircraft)

which the handler or early-entry worker

is using, or be otherwise immediately

accessible. [40 CFR §§ 170.150(b)(4)

and 170.250(d)].
Ag Center Fact Sheet Series Page 2

Agrichemicals/WPS – Eyeflush Requirements

When is eyeflush

water “immediately

accessible”?

The WPS How To Comply manual states

that emergency eyeflush water may be at

the decontamination site if the

decontamination site is immediately

accessible. Because the WPS specifies

that eyewash water must be carried by

the handler or early-entry worker, or

must be on the vehicle or aircraft that

the handler or early-entry worker is

using, the eyewash water must be close

and accessible to the worker or handler

at all times. In addition, because

concentrations and causticity of

agricultural chemicals vary so greatly

(and therefore the duration of exposure

necessary for ocular damage to occur is

difficult to uniformly determine),

emergency eyewash water must be

available immediately. If the emergency

eyewash water is not being carried on

one's person, it must be situated at such

a distance that one could get to it within

very few seconds. 

If emergency eyeflush water

must be close, accessible, and

situated so that one could get

to it within very few seconds,

what are some examples of

places that it may be

located/stored so that the

above criteria are met?

In addition to the examples listed above,

the following might be additional

examples of "immediately available": 

1. Running water, a commercial

eyeflush dispenser, or

decontamination water in a carboy

at a mix/load, storage, equipment

cleaning or repairing, or other

stationary handling (or early-entry)

site for handlers or early entry

workers engaged in such activities at

the site.

2. Running water or commercial

eyeflush dispensers that are located

at frequent intervals and are easily

accessed by the handlers/early-entry

workers in a bench-type nursery or

greenhouse site.

3. Water that meets the WPS standard

for decontamination water that is in

a nurse tank or other supply tank

that is on (or being dragged by) the

vehicle a handler or early-entry

worker is operating. 

What are some examples of

unacceptable locations in which

to store emergency eyeflush

water (i.e., water would NOT

be immediately available)?

Examples of situations where emergency

eyeflush water would NOT be

immediately accessible are:

1. Water on a vehicle but in a locked

compartment.
Agrichemicals

Worker Protection Standard for

Agricultural Pesticides Eyeflush Requirements 

Ag Center Fact Sheet Series Page 3

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

The Ag Center

welcomes comments

on this document and

its other services. 

2. Water for which difficult or timeconsuming steps must be taken to

access, such as having to uncouple

or connect a nurse tank hose,

having to unlock a compartment

holding the eyeflush dispenser, or

having to unlock a restroom. 

3. Water located across a stream or

commercial road. 

Does the eyeflush water

requirement in the WPS need

to be in one pint containers

only? Can a single, large

container suffice if the contents

equal or exceed one pint per

worker?

A single large container would suffice if

it were immediately accessible to each

worker or handler who requires it. [40

CFR § 170.150]

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.”