OXNARD/SAN FRANCISCO – The State Compensation Insurance Fund will host a day-long, Spanish-language “Train-the-Trainer” pesticide safety workshop in Oxnard on May 3. The workshop will address the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Worker Protection Standard (WPS) for Agricultural Pesticides and is designed to train pesticide handlers and agricultural workers in how to properly handle these pesticides.

The featured speaker at the seminar will be Pedro Acero, a State Fund Loss Control Consultant with over twenty years experience in the field of pesticide safety.

In August 1992, the EPA revised the Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides. The revised WPS requires that agricultural workers be given annual training in basic pesticide safety to prevent occupational exposures from agricultural pesticides. The WPS is a federal regulation designed to protect approximately 2.5 million agricultural workers and pesticide handlers that work at over 600,000 agricultural establishments, including farms, forests, nurseries, and greenhouses.

The seminar is designed for State Fund policyholders to be in compliance with WPS training requirements. Highlights include:

• Learning to understand the requirements for pesticide safety training and use of personal protection equipment.
• Learning about decontamination supplies that should be on-hand and methods of providing emergency medical assistance.
• Participants will receive a certificate of attendance and will be included on the California Department of Pesticide Regulation's list of qualified instructors.

All agricultural employers, owners and managers, as well as labor contractors, are encouraged to attend the seminar.

The seminar is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at State Fund’s Oxnard District Office, 2901 N. Ventura Road, 2nd Floor conference room. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and free parking is available. Complimentary continental breakfast, lunch, and refreshments will be served at the event.

The Oxnard seminar is part of a series of educational programs State Compensation Insurance Fund is holding throughout the state in order to help employers create safe workplaces. State Fund has the largest safety and health services program among California workers’ compensation insurance carriers.

Register now for this or other available seminars.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Established by the California Legislature in 1914, San Francisco-based State Compensation Insurance Fund is a self-supporting, nonprofit, fairly competitive public enterprise that provides workers’ compensation insurance coverage at cost to California employers.