DEC Special Permit Training - Wayne County

April 10, 2012


DEC Special Permit allows non-certified workers to apply and handle federally restricted use pesticides: The Special Permit does not relieve the responsibility of the certified applicator that supervises these employees, but it does relieve the requirement of "on-site, within voice contact" supervision while these pesticides are being applied. Certified Supervisors are required to attend the first 30 minutes of this training. Supervisors who attend the first 30 minutes of training in the English session do not need to repeat the training in the Spanish session.

What are federally restricted-use pesticides?
There are several reasons why pesticides may be federally restricted including avian, fish or aquatic toxicity, acute human oral/inhalation/dermal toxicity (poison), ground and surface water concerns, reproductive effects or tumor causing. Several of the pyrethroid, organophosphorous and carbamate insecticides such as Warrior, Capture, Diazinon, Lorsban and Lannate, and a few herbicides such as Gramoxone and Atrazine, are federally restricted-use materials.

DEC Special Permit training
At Special Permit trainings, we review with non-certified applicators Worker Protection Safety (WPS) handler training and for each federally restricted-use pesticide the potential hazards to non-target species and the environment, and how to prevent the risk of exposure. Trainees also receive a packet with summaries of this information. A DEC Special Permit is valid for one year and needs to be renewed every year unless the pesticide applicator becomes certified.