I was at a shopping center near my office today grabbing a bite to eat, when I noticed the landscape crew spraying the weeds. It never ceases to amaze me how employees will fail to wear their PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). In the state of California there is a minimum PPE that must be worn for ALL pesticide applications. #1 safety glasses with brow and temple protection. Most of the fancy safety glasses in use today are not sufficient. #2 nitrile rubber gloves. NOT leather gloves! #3 long sleeve shirt and long pants. #4 Shoes and socks. Yep, you must wear socks. That is the minimum required PPE no matter what you’re applying or what the label says.

So knowing what the minimum PPE requirements are now, you should be able to spot a “not-so-professional” contractor fairly easilly. The person I saw today was applying what I’m sure was Round Up. He was wearing a short sleeve shirt, NO safety glasses, and NO gloves. Where’s an Ag Inspector when you need them? This is a $500 fine! I know because I had to pay it once.

Let me tell you the story. I don’t remember the year, but it wasn’t too long ago. I had just finished my meeting with the Ag Inspector. He had checked my training records, our written training program, and our respirator program. He had looked over my training materials and viewed the Power Point presentation that we used for training. He was amazed at how organized and well kept our records were. He commended us on the fantastic job we were doing. We had just had a training session a couple of days before his visit.

Well, you’ll never guess what happened. As he left our office he drove down the street, not even a mile away, and saw one of my crews. He decided to stop and take a look. The foreman who was making the application, I won’t mention his name, was applying Round Up to one of the planters. To the dismay of the inspector, he was wearing his saftey glasses backwards on top of his head and had on leather gloves. The inspector was furious! He thought I had pulled a fast one on him. He called me immediately and had not too many nice things to say. I didn’t know what to tell him. This employee had been with us for years. He had just done the training session a few days before.

Needless to say a couple of weeks later I received a letter with my fine of $500! I spoke with the employee after the fact and asked him “what in the world were you thinking?”. He told me it was really hot that day and he just didn’t feel like wearing his glasses and rubber gloves. It was an expensive lesson for us, but now I can use the experience as a training tool to show my employees that this is serious.

Now when I see a landscape crew making a pesticide application without the minimum PPE, I just shake my head. It’s just a matter of time before they learn their expensive lesson. The point of this story is that professional companies provide the proper training and equipment to their employees. While the employees may not always follow the rules, such as in our case, problems such as these can be kept to a minimum. A professional contractor will also be licensed, registered with the counties they operate in, and carry the proper insurance; thus limiting the risk to the property owner. Make sure you hire a professional landscape contractor and check to make sure they carry the proper licenses and insurance coverage for the type of work they will be performing for you.