Coming Soon: Updated National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual -- Available to States and Tribes

Once complete, the 3^rd Edition of the National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual will be available to states, tribes, and territories with certifying authority from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The manual and exam could be adopted “as is,” or states/tribes could customize the manual and exam to meet local needs. Whether or not it is customized, states/tribes will be encouraged to offer the manual(s) for sale to support their local pesticide safety education programs.

Project Goal

The primary goal of this project is to create a manual and exam item bank of questions/answers for the certification of commercial and private pesticide applicators in the core competencies related to laws and safety. The revision will include the newly required competencies under the 2017 revised Certification of Pesticide Applicators Rule (40 CFR Part 171). The process involves collaborative development of learning objectives, manual development, making recommendations for needed visuals, exam development, and evaluation/testing. The team will foster stakeholder engagement and seek consensus. The manual and exam item bank will be developed in English (2024), then in Spanish (2025).

In keeping with PERC’s policy about the sharing of manuals associated with exams, no copies of the manual’s 3rd edition will be made freely available digitally by PERC or adopters. However, adopters are welcome to distribute printed manuals, e-books, and/or modules in a learning management system (LMS) at a reasonable cost. If anyone gives it away at no cost, everyone stands to lose a source of funding for pesticide safety education programs.

Team Leaders

Sandra McDonald is the National Core Manual Project Lead. Sandra founded Mountain West Pesticide Education & Safety Training in 2009, and previously served as the Environmental and Pesticide Education Specialist at Colorado State University for 13 years, training pesticide applicators, and developing training materials. Sandra has coordinated the development/revision of multiple pesticide study manuals and exam item databases. Most recently, she was the National Project Lead on the National Non-Soil Fumigation Project, which developed the manual and exam database.

Steve Tomasko is a Senior Outreach Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has years of experience as a technical writer of safety manuals. He was the Lead Technical Writer on the National Non-Soil Fumigation Project, working alongside Sandra.

Table of Contents (Draft)

Timing

The Core Manual and Exam Bank will be released in 2024-2025.

For More Information

Please direct your questions to PERCsupport@ucdavis.edu. Feel free to share with colleagues and peers by forwarding this webpage. Also, check us out on social media for updates!