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Crop Life Foundation's 2006 Strategy
Strategic Approach
CropLife Foundation commits itself to promoting the safe storage, handling and use of pesticides from their production, through movement in market channels, to ultimate use. Many programs exist to educate end users in the proper safe handling and use of pesticides to reduce the risk of adverse effects to their health and the environment. Substantially fewer initiatives are targeted at pesticide retail and distribution facilities. Through partnerships with state and federal agencies, agribusiness associations, and private companies, CropLife Foundation will coordinate training events to teach employees of pesticide retail and distribution facilities how to safely handle and store pesticides, contain and clean-up pesticide storage leaks and spills, and teach others about the hazards and safe practices associated with pesticide storage, transportation and handling. Increasing the volume and accessibility of information on the safe storage and handling of pesticides at the commercial scale will reduce the risks associated with pesticide storage leaks and spills, helping to preserve the health and environment of America’s agricultural communities.
Activities for the Coming Year
Activity 1
CropLife Foundation, in cooperation with partners including state and federal agencies, agribusiness associations, and private corporations, will coordinate the National Agronomic Environmental Health and Safety School. The 2006 school is a two day workshop in Decatur, IL that will feature training sessions on proper pesticide storage and handling, leak and spill containment and clean-up, emergency response and fire suppression, transportation and worker safety, and chemical site security.
How does this activity reduce pesticide risk?
The National Agronomic Environmental Health and Safety School will help to mitigate the environmental and human health risks of accidental pesticide leaks and spills at retail and distribution facilities by both helping to prevent accidents from occurring through training on proper pesticide handling and storage procedures for commercial facilities, and ensuring that facility personnel and stakeholders are equipped to respond promptly and appropriately to accidents when they do occur, minimizing the risks to the health and environment of surrounding communities.
How will you measure the risk reduction gained from this activity?
CropLife Foundation will measure its progress in reducing the risk of negative environmental and health impacts from pesticide storage and transportation by the applicability of information presented at the NAEHSS and the breadth of its spread through the peer education model adopted by NAEHSS.
Following the workshop, Critique Sheets will be distributed among participants to solicit feedback regarding the topics covered by the program. Participants will be asked to assess the applicability of the information presented to their operations and identify topics for future inclusion. Responses from Critique Sheets will be used to judge the completeness of the school’s training and better focus future programs to the needs of participants and stakeholders.
To help access the broadest audience and achieve a maximum reduction in risks to environmental and community health from pesticide leaks and spills at agricultural retail facilities, the NAEHSS will employ a peer education model with the goal of helping trainers achieve HAZWOPER certification. To this end, NAEHSS will assess its training program annually to ensure that it fulfills HAZWOPER training standards. NAEHSS will also encourage its participants with HAZWOPER certifications to share their emergence prevention and response knowledge with coworkers and stakeholders in their communities. Progress toward the goal of reaching the broadest possible audience will be measured by the frequency with which NAEHSS HAZWOPER trained participants engage in peer education.