Crew Sick Thirty Hours After the Sprayer Left
At 8 a.m. on a Thursday, a crew of nine workers begins hand-thinning peaches in a block that was treated 30 hours earlier with an organophosphate insecticide. The label requires a 14-day restricted entry interval and posted warning signs at each entrance. The foreman, told by the grower that "the REI is only for people who spray," did not post the field and gave no oral warning. By 10:30 a.m. three workers complain of headache, dizziness, blurred vision, sweating, and runny nose; one has vomited twice and has pinpoint pupils. The crew walks out on its own. The grower's cholinesterase program has baseline values for each worker from March but no periodic testing since. The foreman asks whether he should give the workers salt water and send them home, and whether it is safe to send another crew in tomorrow after "it airs out."
1. What is happening to the workers, and what immediate steps should be taken?
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Recognition. Headache, dizziness, blurred vision, sweating, runny nose, vomiting, and pinpoint pupils appearing 30 hours after an organophosphate application is a classic cholinergic syndrome - poisoning by OP residues. These workers were sent into a field still inside its 14-day restricted entry interval. The pinpoint pupils and vomiting make this a medical emergency, not heat stress.
Immediate steps:
- Move all nine workers out of the block to a clean area upwind.
- Have them remove contaminated clothing, wash skin and hair with soap and water, and flush eyes with clean water.
- Call 911 for the symptomatic workers and call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 for guidance.
- Send the label and the EPA registration number with the crew; medical staff need the active ingredient and formulation.
- Do not give anything by mouth to a vomiting or drowsy person and do not attempt home remedies. Drugs such as atropine are decisions for medical personnel.
- Have the apparently asymptomatic exposed workers evaluated as well, since symptoms can lag.
- Notify the grower and the county agricultural commissioner, and record names, exposure times, symptoms, and the product.
Salt water and a ride home would delay care and conceal a reportable illness.
2. Which legal requirements were violated, and what controls were missing?
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Violations:
- Restricted entry interval. Workers entered during the 14-day REI - the single most serious failure. The REI protects everyone who enters a treated area, not just applicators.
- Posting. The field was not posted at entrances as the label requires.
- Oral warning. The crew received no warning about the treated block or the REI.
- Training and supervision. The foreman's belief that the REI applies only to sprayers shows the supervisor was never properly trained; employers must train supervisors and workers on REIs, posting, and decontamination.
- Medical monitoring. Baselines exist from March but no periodic cholinesterase testing was done for handlers, which is an enforcement issue on the handler side of the operation.
Controls that should have been in place: signs posted before application; a system that flags the field as closed in the work order; oral warnings in a language workers understand; decontamination supplies; and a written reentry procedure with a supervisor responsible for checking dates before assigning crews. The grower's statement to the foreman is itself evidence of a failed training program.
3. What must be true before any crew re-enters, and what records and follow-up are needed?
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Before reentry: do not send anyone in "after it airs out." The REI is a fixed legal interval, not a smell test. Wait the full 14 days, confirm posting and notification are correct, and confirm through the PCA or commissioner that no residue hazard remains. Then investigate how the application and thinning dates crossed - the work order should have made the closed status impossible to miss.
Records and follow-up:
- The application record, posting dates, and REI.
- Training records for the foreman and crew.
- Medical documentation for the three symptomatic workers and the evaluations of the others.
- A written incident report with times and actions taken.
- Notification to the local health officer and the Department of Pesticide Regulation, since pesticide-related illness is reportable.
System fixes: a reentry board in the shop, a signed work-order check before a crew enters any block, and supervisor accountability. Follow up with the workers' physicians and confirm their fitness to return before reassigning them to treated fields.