California Pesticide Use, Worker Safety and Environment

About 5 of every 50 questions on a California Laws, Regulations and Basic Principles practice exam come from this topic.

Sources checked November 6, 2026

What to know

Under 3 CCR 6614, an applicator weighs equipment, weather, the treated site and neighboring property, before and while applying, and may not start or continue when people not involved could be contaminated or nearby property damaged or made unsafe to use, even if substantial drift is prevented. Food and Agricultural Code 12972 puts the drift duty on any person using any pesticide. On farms, the applicator notifies the property operator of a completed application within 24 hours, and a pest control business files its production agriculture use report within seven days. Near schools and day care centers, weekday daytime limits apply: 1/4 mile for aircraft and airblast sprayers, 25 feet for ground rigs; growers send annual notices by April 30. Schools post warning signs 24 hours before and 72 hours after treating, and hired applicators take a one-hour schoolsite course. Beekeepers within one mile who asked get 48 hours' notice. Handlers in crop production must be 18, trained before handling and yearly, given three gallons of decontamination water each, and kept from taking PPE home. A plasma cholinesterase level at or below 60 percent of baseline means removal from exposure. Fieldworkers stay outside a 100-foot zone around airblast spraying, the longer REI governs, and fields with REIs over 48 hours are posted. Absent a berm, mixing and loading stay 100 feet from any well.

Where it comes from

• 3 CCR § 6614
• Cal. Food & Agric. Code § 12972
• 3 CCR §§ 6618, 6619, 6626
• 3 CCR §§ 6690-6692; Cal. Educ. Code § 17612
• 3 CCR § 6983
• 3 CCR §§ 6722-6746
• 3 CCR §§ 6762-6776
• 3 CCR §§ 6609, 6800, 6970

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