Yesterday NAAA submitted comments supporting EPA’s proposed revisions to the Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ) regulation, which was part of the updated Worker Protection Standards (WPS) released in 2015. The AEZ was proposed by the EPA to be a “bubble” around the sprayer that traveled with it as the sprayer moved during the application, and people would be protected by not entering the bubble. Under existing regulations, individuals cannot be within the AEZ, even if the AEZ extends beyond the farm owners property line. AEZ applies to ground, airblast, and aerial applications.

As originally written in 2015, applicators have to suspend an application if someone entered the AEZ, even if that person was not on the farm and under no control of the farmer of applicator.  The off-farm aspect of this provision was considered very difficult for state regulators to enforce. Many agricultural organizations, including NAAA, commented on the burdensome nature of the AEZ.

The proposed revision would have the AEZ stop at the farm owner’s property line, allowing easier implementation and enforcement. This means that an applicator will not be forced to stop when a person is within the AEZ distance but is not on the farm property. As an example, the AEZ for aerial applications is 100 feet. In the original AEZ regulations, if a person driving along a road came within 100 feet of the agricultural aircraft, even if the aircraft was within the private property he was treating that pilot would have to cease applying until the person moved outside of the 100-foot AEZ. If the person stopped along the roadside, the pilot would have had to hold off resuming the application until the time when the person did drive away. Under the revisions, the pilot would not have to stop the application for the person stopped on the road because they are not located on the farm property.

Off property by-standers would still be protected under existing label requirements that prohibit applicators from drifting on people. Additionally, the revisions allow immediate family members of the farm owner to be exempt from the AEZ requirement, allowing them to remain in their homes or other enclosed structures during applications.  The AEZ would remain 25 feet in all directions for ground applications and 100 feet in all directions for aerial, air blast, air-propelled, fumigant, smoke, mist and fog pesticide applications.