Ontario Pesticide Education Program

Ontario’s Occupational Health & Safety Act (OHSA) came into force in October 1979.  The main principle of the OHSA is that workers, supervisors and employers share the responsibility for health and safety in the workplace. The OHSA sets out the rights and duties of all workplace parties and it gives Ministry of Labour inspectors the authority to inspect the workplace to ensure compliance with the OHSA, and to investigate complaints, critical injuries and fatalities. Farm operations came under the OHSA on June 30, 2006. This means that: the rights and duties for workers and employers outlined in the OHSA apply; inspection and enforcement apply; and both workers and employers must participate in workplace health and safety matters. Farm operations without paid workers are exempt from the OHSA . Employers Under the OHSA, the employers must: provide information, instruction and supervision to workers; advise workers about hazards in the wor...

Take Reasonable Care When You Apply Pesticides Attitude!   Do you really care about yourself and what you do?  Do you take pride in your work?  Are your considerate of others?  Do you consider yourself to be a professional?  Do you look and act like a professional applicator?  Are you qualified to work with pesticides?  Do you have the required education, experience,  training, and certification/licence?  Do you attend workshops at the local dealers that sell pesticides? Is the pesticide registered in Ontario and Canada?  Was the pesticide you applied purchased from an approved pesticide vendor ? Did you read and comply with the label instructions for the pesticide you were using?   Did you check the weather forecast before you applied the pesticide? Did you check the wind speed and direction , and other factors such as humidity and temperature before applying the pe...

You risk contaminating your harvested grains and oilseeds with pesticide residue from treated seed when you use the same wagons, trucks and augers to handle your harvested grains and oilseeds as your bulk seed deliveries in the spring. Elevators do not tolerate any contamination of harvested grains or oilseeds.  It only takes a small amount of leftover treated seed or its residue to contaminate your shipment load. What Are Your Risks? ·   Your load will be rejected. ·   You could contaminate additional grain in storage. ·   You could end up paying for any clean up or loss of business caused by the contamination. Take Steps to Prevent Contamination Use the checklist (on the back of this page) developed cooperatively by the Ontario Agri Business Association, the Grain Farmers of Ontario, and the Canadian Seed Trade Association to help you prevent contamination or your load.  The checklist will assist you in identifying where contamination mig...

Protect our Pollinators! Landowners, Farmers, Commercial Pesticide Exterminators Let local beekeepers know when you plan to plant insecticide treated seed or spray insecticides by air or ground equipment. In the springs of 2012 and 2013, Pest Management Regulatory Agency received an unusually high number of incident reports of bee losses in Southern Ontario. Over 200 bee yards reported losses in each of those years. Residues of neonicotinoid insecticides used to treat corn seed were detected in approximately 70 – 75 % of the dead bee samples analyzed. Neonicotinoids are also used to treat soybean seed. Bees could have been exposed to the insecticide dust generated during the planting of insecticide treated seed. Beekeepers can protect their bees from exposure to pesticides that are applied close to their hives if they are told when and where pesticide applications will happen.  Bees forage up to 5 km from their hives, so talk to neighbouring beekeepers within 5 km of your ...