Worker Protection Standard Application Exclusion Zone
- What is the Application Exclusion Zone
- What are the AEZ Requirements?
- How Big is the AEZ Required to be?
- How does EPA Define Spray Quality?
- What is the “Immediate Family Exemption,” and when can I use it?
- Application Exclusion Zone Final Rule
What is the Application Exclusion Zone
The Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ) is an area with additional requirements to protect workers and bystanders. This area immediately surrounds the pesticide application equipment during an outdoor pesticide application. The AEZ only exists during the application, moves with the equipment during application, and can extend outside of an agricultural establishment (e.g., school grounds, residential neighborhoods). It may have a 25-foot or 100-foot radius, depending on the application type and droplet size used. When the application is over, the AEZ ceases to exist (although post-application restrictions, such as a restricted entry interval, apply to the treated area).
What are the AEZ Requirements?
Under the AEZ requirements, pesticide handlers:
- Must temporarily suspend the application if workers or other people are in the AEZ, whether those people are on- or off-establishment.
- Must temporarily suspend the application if workers or handlers are in the AEZ in an easement on the agricultural establishment.
- Must not resume a paused application until people have left the AEZ.
Under the AEZ requirements, agricultural employers and establishment owners:
- Must not allow any worker or other person (other than appropriately trained and equipped handlers involved in the application) in an AEZ that is within the boundaries of the agricultural establishment.
- Are responsible for ensuring that AEZ requirements are understood and followed.
How Big is the AEZ Required to be?
The size of the AEZ is determined by the application method and spray quality.
Under the AEZ requirements, the AEZ must be a minimum of 100 feet horizontally in all directions when the pesticide is applied:
- By air (fixed wing or helicopter).
- By an air blast or air-propelled application method.
- As a fumigant, smoke, mist, or fog.
- With a fine spray quality/droplet size.
The AEZ must be a minimum of 25 feet horizontally in all directions when the pesticide is:
- NOT applied in a manner that would require a 100-foot AEZ, and
- Using medium or larger spray quality/droplet sizes, sprayed from a height of greater than 12 inches from the soil surface or planting medium.
No AEZ is required when the pesticide is applied in a manner other than those covered above (i.e., equal to or less than 12 inches from the soil with medium or larger spray quality).
How does EPA Define Spray Quality?
Under a 2024 AEZ rule, EPA refined how it defines spray quality by using the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Standard 572 (S572).
The eight ASABE spray quality categories (which are also referenced in most nozzle charts) are:
Smaller than medium:
- Extra fine (XF)
- Very fine (VF)
- Fine (F)
Medium or larger:
- Medium (M)
- Coarse (C)
- Very coarse (VC)
- Extra coarse (XC)
- Ultra coarse (UC)
What is the “Immediate Family Exemption,” and when can I use it?
The immediate family exemption is a new exemption that will be available for farm owners once the 2024 AEZ rule becomes effective (60-days after publication).
The AEZ exemption allows farm owners and the farm owners’ immediate family to remain inside enclosed structures or homes in the AEZ during pesticide applications.
This exemption also permits handlers to proceed with an application when owners or owners’ immediate family members remain inside closed buildings, provided the following conditions are met:
- The owner informs the handler that only the owner and/or the owner’s immediate family members remain inside the closed building.
- The owner instructs the handler that the application can proceed despite the owner and their immediate family members’ presence inside the closed building.
- Handlers receive this information from the owner of the establishment prior to application. Handlers cannot assume that only the owner’s family are inside without that assurance.
Anyone who is not an immediate family member of the owner who is within an owner’s house or other closed building is not exempt from the AEZ, and therefore, applications would need to be adjusted or suspended if non-family members are also within the AEZ.
Additionally, sheltering-in-place for employees in any structure is not an option under this exemption.
Application Exclusion Zone Final Rule
In September 2024, EPA finalized a rule to restore the pesticide Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ) requirements under the 2015 WPS. The rule will go into effect 60 days after the publication date in the Federal Register. It can be found on www.regulations.gov using Docket ID EPA-HQ-OPP-2022-0133.