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Tag: pesticide safety

National Pesticide Safety Education Month

Posted on by Brooke Garcia

By: Frannie Miller

Did you know there are about 1 million certified pesticide applicators in the United States? There is somewhere between 11,000 to 15,000 pesticide products registered for use in each state. Common consumer products that contain pesticides include flea collars, weed and feed, and roach baits. Pesticides play an important role in improving the quality of food and feed yields. They also protect the public health, controlling pests in our homes, turf, forests, waterways, and right-of-way.

February is National Pesticide Safety Education Month, which is important in raising awareness and support for land-grant Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEP). Pesticide Safety Educations Programs like the one at Kansas State University deliver pesticide applicator trainings on safe use of pesticides in various settings, as well as deal with state-specific needs and laws.

Have you ever wondered how safe you are when using pesticides? You can take a self-assessment of personal pesticide safety practices to evaluate where you could do better:

Self-Assessment of Personal Pesticide Safety Practices

Upcoming Commercial Pesticide Applicator Training

Posted on by Brooke Garcia

By Brooke Garcia & Frannie Miller

Upcoming Commercial Pesticide Applicator Training

Date: November 12-14, 2019 in Salina, KS – Webster Conference Center

Website: https://conferences.k-state.edu/commercialpesticide/

Objective: The objective of this training program is for the Kansas State University Cooperative Education Service to provide a broad, practical training program and to help Kansas commercial pesticide applicators meet the requirements for renewal certification.

ALL commercial certified pesticide applicators are required to accumulate credit hours if re-certifying through training.

In Kansas, there are two ways to receive training for renewal certification: 1) study a manual and pass an examination and 2) attend training courses approved by the Kansas Secretary of Agriculture for required re-certification credit hour (CEU) accumulation. All applicators must now accumulate the necessary credit hours required for the appropriate category/subcategory in which they are certified. If you have not accumulated the required number of credit hours (1 core hour and either 3, 5 or 7 pest management hours) and paid the certification fee ($50 per category certified in) to the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) by the expiration of your current certification, you must re-exam to obtain certification.

Questions?
If you have questions regarding the renewal requirements, please call the Kansas Department of Agriculture at 785-564-6688. To view your current certification credits, go to: https://www.kellysolutions.com/ks/applicators.
If you have questions concerning this training program or if you are interested in the additional training programs that the K-State Research and Extension Program has to offer, please call Frannie Miller at (620) 241-1523.

Are you using the right gloves for pesticide safety? And a new resource to translate safety info into Spanish

Posted on by kennelly

With pesticides, usually we are thinking about the active ingredient that targets the problematic insect, weed, or disease. But did you know that the different “carriers” in the formulation can affect applicator safety, too?

Here is a quick article that summarizes some of the key points of selecting the right gloves for applicator safety:

If the Glove Doesn’t Fit (the job!), You Must Quit

 

Speaking of pesticide safety, the EPA recently announced a new program to help translate information into Spanish.

https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-offers-guide-help-translate-pesticide-safety-information-spanish

You can find the full guide here:

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-10/documents/spanish-translation-guide-for-pesticide-labeling.10.10.19.pdf

 

Gloves – an important piece of PPE

Posted on by kennelly

I came across a nicely-written article from U of Kentucky about gloves and pesticide safety. It’s pretty short, and worth 2 minutes of your time as a quick review.

For example, did you know this? “Research has shown that workers mixing pesticides received 85% of the total exposure on their hands and 13% on their forearms. The same study showed that wearing protective gloves reduced exposure by 99%.”

Read the full article by clicking HERE