Request for Speakers for the 2007 Pesticide Worker Safety and Health Conference

[Guest guest]

Request for Speakers for the

2007 Pesticide Worker Safety and Health Conference

Protecting the Pesticide Workforce

The Environmental Protection

Agency's Office of Pesticide Programs will host a Pesticide Worker Safety and

Health Conference on October 2-4, 2007, in Arlington, Virginia.

The conference will provide an informational forum for federal and state

agencies and private sectors organizations involved in pesticide worker safety

and health programs, policies and research initiatives.

The conference will focus on

measuring the impact of current worker protection initiatives and developing

effective interventions where protective gaps exist. The conference will

also highlight the accomplishments of the Agency’s worker protection initiatives

in partnership with our grantees. The Agency and its partners are

committed to enhancing the standards for protecting workers from harmful

exposure to pesticides.

The Agency is requesting

presentation abstracts for the Pesticide Worker Safety and Health

Conference. Presentations relevant to the theme of improving pesticide

worker health, including: applicators, handlers, farmworkers and their families

are recommended and should fall into one of the following areas:

Administrative or policy solutions

Engineering controls

Education or training of workers

Risk communication

Role of surveillance and findings

Exposure assessment

Please submit presentation

abstracts to the Environmental Protection Agency by June 1, 2007. Send

abstracts and inquiries to:

Worker_Safety_health_Conference@...

Presentation abstracts

should be 400 words or less and include:

presentation title,

intervention area (if applicable), content overview, and an estimate of time

needed; speaker, position, affiliation, and contact information.

Abstracts will be reviewed and prospective speakers will be contacted in June

2007.

Background on the

Environmental Protection Agency’s Pesticide Worker Safety Program The

Environmental Protection Agency's agricultural worker protection regulation was

designed to protect employees on farms, forests, nurseries, and greenhouses

from occupational exposures to agricultural pesticides. The regulation

contains requirements for agricultural employers to protect their employees

through: pesticide safety training, notification of pesticide applications, use

of personal protective equipment, restricted entry intervals following

pesticide application, decontamination supplies, and emergency medical

assistance. The Environmental Protection Agency's certification of

pesticide applicators regulation sets standards of competency for commercial

and private applicators applying restricted-use pesticides. Implementing

these two regulations is a key part of the Agency's strategy for reducing

occupational exposures to pesticides. The Agency recently conducted an

assessment of the national pesticide worker safety program with an in-depth

review of the federal and state implementation and enforcement of the relevant

regulations. Representatives from farmworker advocates, the cooperative

extension service, commodity organizations, our state regulatory partners, other

federal agency representatives, pesticide industry and individual growers met

with the Agency to voice their concerns and give recommendations regarding the

implementation of the regulations. The numerous recommendations,

contained in a national assessment report are now being considered for

potential regulatory changes. The full report is posted on the EPA

website at:

http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/safety/newnote/wksp4-training.pdf