Welcome to Training Module Mania!, a monthly supplement from the PSEP Office that will explore each training topic (‘module’) of private applicator training and the resources available to Educators for delivering that topic. Our goal with this series of articles is to help you find the training materials you need and examine how best to use them. This month, we will focus on the Laws and Regulations module.
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Nebraska Pesticide Act form the backbone of pesticide oversight in Nebraska. These statutes, and their associated regulations, prescribe requirements for product registration, label language, pesticide safety training, applicator licensure, and more. Additional provisions, such as those in the Worker Protection Standard, the Endangered Species Act, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), further regulate pesticides. The overarching goal of these laws and regulations is to allow society to benefit from the use of pesticides while safeguarding human health and the environment from potential negative effects. (The Worker Protection Standard is its own, separate training module.)
By acquiring a basic understanding of these rules, private applicators are equipped not only to follow requirements but also to recognize how they intersect to form a practical legal framework (i.e., pesticide labels) with real-world benefits. Materials available for teaching the Laws and Regulations module are:
• PowerPoint presentation (available on OneDrive/SharePoint)
• Video versions of the PowerPoint presentation (available on OneDrive/SharePoint)
• Discussion – NDA enforcement summary (In-Service Manual, page 57-63*)
• NebGuides and Extension Circulars, including Pesticide Laws and Regulations, Pesticides and the Endangered Species Protection Program, Nebraska Pesticide Container and Secondary Containment Rules, and Understanding the Pesticide Label (located in the Private Applicator Reference Guide, which all trainees receive)
The In-Service Manual provides a comprehensive checklist of topics that, by law, must be covered in private applicator training. This checklist is found in Appendix A, pages 47-48. Immediately after this checklist, on pages 49-50, is a Curriculum Table of available training materials, sorted by module. Use the requirements checklist and Curriculum Table to plan your training sessions.
The PowerPoint presentation for the Laws and Regulations module is one of a set of nine that cover everything required for private applicator training. Thus, if you so desire, you can simply present these nine slide decks and fulfill the requirements for certifying/recertifying private applicators. However, you may find that replacing some PowerPoints with activities, videos, and discussions increases the impact and engagement of your training sessions.
Another important note on the PowerPoint presentations: you can often find presenter notes below the slides that explain the slide creator’s intent behind including certain things and how to discuss them. These notes can be extremely helpful to the presenter.
During the second half of 2020, Educators and the PSEP Office developed a set of videos covering each of the nine module PowerPoint presentations discussed above. If you feel uncomfortable lecturing on a certain module, or if you need a break during a training session, you can choose to play a module’s video instead of presenting it yourself. Some modules even have multiple versions presented by different Educators, allowing additional flexibility. Three videos for the Laws and Regulations module were completed, featuring Wayne Ohnesorg, Randy Saner, and Ron Seymour as presenters. A fourth Laws and Regulations video was produced at the same time with Certification, Training, and Worker Safety Specialist Libby Smith using NDA-made slides.
The In-Service Manual contains real-life examples of pesticide misuse in Nebraska, including NDA’s enforcement responses. These NDA Enforcement Summaries are excellent discussion items, not strictly for covering Laws and Regulations but also for tying the legal side to the various health and environmental concepts on which they touch. By discussing real examples, applicators gain an understanding of the importance of following pesticide regulations and the potential consequences for violations. Note that some of the examples in the In-Service Manual make reference to companion photos available on the PSEP Flickr page. You can use these photos to add a visual component to your discussion.
If you do not have time to cover a required topic in the Laws and Regulations module (or any other module), you can refer participants to one of the Extension publications in their Private Applicator Reference Guide that covers that topic.
During training, we recommend that you spend about 10-15 minutes teaching the Laws and Regulations module.
Pesticide safety education is a worthwhile endeavor. Our job as educators is to engage the audience and build their appreciation for the responsibilities they assume when using pesticides. Across the nation, Pesticide Safety Education Programs have the mission of encouraging the judicious use of pesticides. This mission protects human health, the environment, and our producers’ bottom lines.
*References to In-Service Manual page numbers are for the 2021 edition. These page numbers may fluctuate from year to year.