Evaluating private pesticide applicator curriculum using the hierarchy of controls

Pesticides have been a mainstay in agriculture for thousands of years. However, worker protections and safety training are a comparably recent endeavor, only taking place in the last two centuries. To apply restricted use pesticides on farms, workers must possess a private pesticide applicator certification, which can be obtained from the state or county level. This paper provides a review of the curriculum provided by four of the top agriculture states in the United States: Iowa, Illinois, California, and Texas. The primary target of this paper is to establish the differences between the four selected states, and to establish whether or not the hierarchy of controls is used to develop prevention materials. The curriculum review suggests that while overall information is consistent between the states selected, the method of presentation and area of greatest focus varied from state to state. It also suggests that the hierarchy of controls can be viewed as a guiding principle for the selected curriculum. Future studies would be necessary to evaluate the quality of learning techniques used, as well as for comparisons with other states.