Beginning July 1, 2016 anyone who intends to apply a pesticide at a public school or child care center must first complete a Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) approved training course.
The California Healthy Schools Act of 2000 (HSA), directed the DPR to create the School Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program, which promotes the adoption of integrated pest management in schools and child care centers and provides support for HSA compliance.
Senate Bill 1405 amends the HSA and mandates that any person that applies a pesticide at a school site must first complete a minimum one-hour training course. This includes, but is not limited to disinfecting wipes, sanitizers, and weed-killers.
Who has to be trained and how often?
Anyone using a pesticide at a public school or child care center must complete a course each year.
Licensed pesticide applicators must also complete an HSA compliant training course once during each renewal period, if they intend to apply pesticide at a school site.
What courses meet the training requirement?
A course must be approved by DPR and must meet the training requirements as outlined in the amended HSA.
There is currently only one course that meets the necessary HSA training requirements and is approved by the DPR. This free course is offered by Sacramento State University and can be accessed here. This introductory course was designed for child care providers, teachers, custodians, and food service workers, but anyone can take it to meet their HSA training requirement. This course features a section on disinfectants as well as integrated pest management and the safe use of pesticides around children.
Are you looking for a way to assign and track employee completions of this course?
EIA and TargetSolutions have created a Custom Activity that you can utilize to assign and track employee completions of the Sacramento State University free course.
Contact the Loss Prevention Department at (916) 850-7300 for additional information.