Source: COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII submitted to NRP
HAWAII PESTICIDE SAFETY EDUCATION PROGRAM FY 2012
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0226768
Grant No.
2011-48679-31010
Cumulative Award Amt.
$10,000.00
Proposal No.
2011-05452
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2011
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2012
Grant Year
2011
Program Code
[PSEP]- Pesticide Safety Education Program
Recipient Organization
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
3050 MAILE WAY
HONOLULU,HI 96822
Performing Department
Plant & Environmental Protection Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Federal and state laws require pesticide applicators to show competence in handling restricted use pesticides if they wish to buy, use, or supervise the use of such pesticides. In Hawaii, competence must be demonstrated by passing a certification exam conducted by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA), the State of Hawaii's lead agency for pesticide regulation. A HDOA certification is valid for five years, during which the certified applicator may earn continuing education credits ("recertification credits") through various methods specified by the HDOA. The purpose of the project is to provide education for Hawaii's pesticide applicators to enable them to become certified and maintain certification by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to apply restricted use pesticides. The four major activities comprising this project are: (1) conducting 2-day short courses to explain how pesticides may be handled legally, safely, and effectively; (2) developing and publishing study guides that pesticide applicators may use to prepare to take the Hawaii Department of Agriculture's certification examinations; (3) developing and publishing a newsletter that will inform pesticide applicators of changes in regulations and trends in pesticide usage, and include continuing education-type articles which certified applicators may use to earn recertification credits; and (4) maintaining and updating webpages that will provide certified pesticide applicators with Internet access to short course schedules, study guides, and newsletters.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1335220302050%
7115220302015%
7235220302035%
Knowledge Area
133 - Pollution Prevention and Mitigation; 711 - Ensure Food Products Free of Harmful Chemicals, Including Residues from Agricultural and Other Sources; 723 - Hazards to Human Health and Safety;

Subject Of Investigation
5220 - Pesticides;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
The purpose of the project "Hawaii Pesticide Safety Education Program FY 2012" is to provide education for Hawaii's pesticide applicators to enable them to become certified and maintain certification by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA) to apply restricted use pesticides. The HDOA is the State of Hawaii's lead agency for pesticide regulation. Certification of applicators of restricted use pesticides is required nationwide by the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and in Hawaii by the Hawaii Pesticides Law. OBJECTIVE The staff of the Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP) of the University of Hawaii, a Land Grant University, has provided and now offers to continue providing Hawaii's pesticide applicators with educational services to enable them to prepare for certification exams and, once certified, earn continuing education credits for recertification. Hawaii's PSEP staff has worked with and will continue to work with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture's pesticide regulatory staff to identify and the needs and activities necessary for developing and delivering such educational services. For funding, Hawaii's PSEP coordinator wishes to use the EPA pass-through funds offered by the USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Pesticide Safety Education Program in a manner is consistent with the EPA-USDA Interagency Agreement that was summarized in its "Scope of Work, as follows: "EPA passes funds through USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture to the individual state Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEPs) to support the training of pesticide applicators of restricted use pesticides. The PSEP coordinators of each Land Grant University are responsible for the program in their state or territory. Each coordinator is expected to work with their respective pesticide State Lead Agencies (SLAs) to identify the needs and activities for the year. Common activities include: presenting educational programs in a classroom setting or hands-on environment; developing and updating manuals and other training materials; developing and/or coordinating recertification education programs; informing pesticide applicators of programs and materials through newsletters and web sites."
Project Methods
The Hawaii four major activities comprising this project are: (1) Annually conducting five 2-day short courses to explain how pesticides may be handled legally, safely, and effectively. Since these topics are covered in the certification exams, trainees will be better prepared to pass their exams. Effectiveness of short courses will be assessed by surveying trainees to determine which recommended pesticide handling practices were adopted or will be adopted as a result of attending short courses and or using the study guides, and to determine whether or not attending a short course helped a trainee to be better prepared to pass a certification exam. (2) Annually developing and publishing three new or updated study guides that explain in detail how pesticides may be handled legally, safely, and effectively. Study guides afford pesticide applicators the opportunity to study independently and to supplement and reinforce what they learn in the short courses. Effectiveness of study guides will be assessed by surveying study packet recipients to determine which recommended pesticide handling practices were adopted or will be adopted as a result of using the study guides, and to determine whether or not using the study guides helped a trainee to be better prepared to pass a certification exam. (3) Annually developing and publishing three issues of the newsletter "The Pesticide Label" that will inform pesticide applicators of changes in pesticide-related regulations and trends in pesticide usage, and include continuing education-type articles which certified applicators may use to earn recertification credits. Issues of the on line newsletter will made available for downloading from the Hawaii PSEP's website. In each issue will be included two "recertification topic" articles which will be the basis for written questions administered as a quiz by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. (The Department's recertification policy allows certified applicators earn continuing education credits by correctly answering a minimum percentage of the quiz questions.) The Hawaii PSEP staff will also provide 10 review questions per issue to the appropriate Hawaii Department of Agriculture personnel who may use, with or without modification, the questions to compose their quizzes. Effectiveness of the newsletter as an opportunity for earning recertification credits will be assessed by obtaining aggregated data on the number of applicators who earned recertification credits based on recertification quizzes. The data will be obtained from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. (4) Maintain and updating webpages that will provide certified pesticide applicators with Internet access to short course schedules, study guides, and newsletters.

Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: SHORT COURSES: Staff conducted five 2.5-day short courses on: (1) Oahu, 2011 November 15-17, (2) Hawaii island, 2012 March 5-7, (3) Maui, 2012 March 19-21, (4) Oahu, 2012 May 21-23, and (5) Lanai, 2012 June 26-20, which were attended by 67 pesticide applicator/trainees. WEBPAGES: Staff also maintained and updated three webpages that provided Hawaii certified pesticide applicators Internet access to our short course schedules, study guides, and issues of the newsletter "The Pesticide Label". (NOTE: Study guides and newsletter issues are specified in the Publications section of this report.) PARTICIPANTS: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR played the following roles: (1) project coordinator, (2) coordinator and instructor for short courses, (3) editor of and contributor to newsletter issues, (4) developer of and principal author of study guides, and (5) web master and editor of websites for study guides, newsletters, and related topics. PROGRAM ASSISTANT played the following roles: (1) instructor for short courses, (2) contributor to newsletter issues, and (3) reviewer of study guide drafts. The major PARTNER ORGANIZATION was the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, which is Hawaii's lead pesticide regulatory agency. COLLABORATORS included various faculty and staff of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR), University of Hawaii who provided advice and content information for our short courses, study guides, and newsletter. Opportunities for TRAINING OR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT included (1) lectures about using pesticides correctly for CTAHR undergraduate students and for Master Gardeners training programs, and (2) developing newsletter articles for recertification credit quizzes and distributing them to Hawaii's certified pesticide applicator's via our newsletter. TARGET AUDIENCES: Our TARGET AUDIENCE comprised Hawaii pesticide applicators, mainly those employed in invasive species control; turfgrass and landscape maintenance; farm, nursery, and greenhouse operations; and rights-of-way maintenance. Our three major EFFORTS were short courses (each 2.5 days), study guides, newsletter issues, and maintenance and development of our website. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
CHANGE IN ACTIONS: 142 trainees adopted 60 different pesticide safety recommendations and practiced them 960 times. Following are five of the 60 recommended practices presented in our short courses and study guides: (1) Reschedule pesticide application if when the weather will make drift management difficult; (2) Choose a pesticide only if you are willing and able to use suitable personal protective (safety) equipment and clothing; (3) Ensure that pesticide storage area is protected from the rain; (4) Don't burn emptied pesticide containers; and (5) Keep a record of each application of a restricted use pesticide. CHANGE IN KNOWLEDGE: A total of 141 certified pesticide applicators earned an average of 5.6 recertification credits per applicator by taking and passing 639 recertification quizzes. This group comprised two categories of certified pesticide applicators: 39 certified "private" applicators who took 225 quizzes and earned 252 credits (average 5.8 credits per applicator) and 102 "commercial" applicators who took 414 quizzes and earned 535 credits (average 5.2 per applicator). The quizzes were based on articles in our newsletter issues, which are listed in the Publications section of this report.

Publications

  • Nagamine, C. (2012). Recordkeeping for Restricted Use Pesticide Applications in Hawaii (August 2012). http://pestworld.stjohn.hawaii.edu/studypackets/spcatgor.html
  • Nagamine, C. (2012). Pesticides and the HEPCRA, Hawaii Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (May 2012). http://pestworld.stjohn.hawaii.edu/studypackets/spcatgor.html
  • Nagamine, C. (2012). Demonstration, Research, and Instructional Pest Control Study Guide for Hawaii (April 2012). http://pestworld.stjohn.hawaii.edu/studypackets/clcom10.html
  • Nagamine, C. and Brooks, F. (2011). The Pesticide Label, September 2011. Quarterly. Informs Hawaii pesticide applicators of changes in regulations and trends in pesticide usage, and includes continuing education-type articles which certified applicators may use to earn recertification credits.http://pestworld.stjohn.hawaii.edu/pat/Newsletter_main.html
  • Nagamine, C. and Brooks, F. (2011). The Pesticide Label, October/December 2011. Quarterly. Informs Hawaii pesticide applicators of changes in regulations and trends in pesticide usage, and includes continuing education-type articles which certified applicators may use to earn recertification credits. http://pestworld.stjohn.hawaii.edu/pat/Newsletter_main.html
  • Nagamine, C. and Brooks, F. (2012). The Pesticide Label, March/April 2012. Quarterly. Informs Hawaii pesticide applicators of changes in regulations and trends in pesticide usage, and includes continuing education-type articles which certified applicators may use to earn recertification credits. http://pestworld.stjohn.hawaii.edu/pat/Newsletter_main.html
  • Nagamine, C. and Brooks, F. (2012). The Pesticide Label, May/August 2012. Quarterly. Informs Hawaii pesticide applicators of changes in regulations and trends in pesticide usage, and includes continuing education-type articles which certified applicators may use to earn recertification credits. http://pestworld.stjohn.hawaii.edu/pat/Newsletter_main.html