NAAA along with other agricultural groups have been successful in getting the EPA to amend requirements for the Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ). The AEZ, promulgated under the Obama administration’s rewrite of the EPA’s Worker Protection Standards in 2015, is an area around an application device—25 feet for ground rigs or 100 feet for aircraft—that follows the equipment as the application is made. Workers and others without proper personal protective equipment and training cannot enter the AEZ.
The AEZ was problematic from the start since it was not wind directional and did not stop at property boundaries. This allowed bystanders to either intentionally or accidently stop applications. NAAA along with the Small Business Administration first commented to the EPA about these concerns as reported in the September 5, 2014 NAAA eNewsletter.
The new change the EPA issued last week for aerial applicators is the AEZ does not extend across the property boundaries of the grower’s (target) field. If conditions favor an applicator to treat a crop due to wind direction and other factors moving away from persons outside of a grower’s property but within 25 feet for ground or 100 feet for aerial, a safe application may still be made. It is important to note that an applicator is still responsible to not allow contact to people of the applied product per the pesticide label and Worker Protection requirements. The full changes are available here. NAAA commented in favor of the now enacted revisions as reported in the January 30 NAAA eNewsletter.
. The AEZ, promulgated under the Obama administration’s rewrite of
the EPA’s Worker Protection Standards in 2015, is an area around an
application device—25 feet for ground rigs or 100 feet for aircraft—that
follows the equipment as the application is made.){kind=small}
