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, pesticide applicators must demonstrate competence by passing a certification exam conducted by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA), which is the State of Hawaii's lead agency for pesticide regulation. 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 Hawaii project "Pesticide Safety Education Program 2013" is to provide education for Hawaii's pesticide applicators to enable them to become certified by the HDOA and to maintain their certification. 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, which are exam topics; (2) developing and publishing study guides that pesticide applicators may use to prepare to take the HDOA's certification exams; (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 that certified applicators may use to earn recertification credits; and (4) maintaining and updating web pages 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)
Goals / Objectives
The purpose of the project "Pesticide Safety Education Program 2013" is to provide education for Hawaii's pesticide applicators to enable them to become certified and maintain certification by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (the State of Hawaii's lead agency for pesticide regulation) to apply restricted use pesticides. (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 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 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 at least 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.