[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Defra, UK - Farming - Environmental management - Land Management

Farming

Pesticides

The sale, supply, storage, advertisement and use of plant protection products in the UK is strictly regulated to make sure users, consumers and the environment are safe.

Usually called pesticides, plant protection products are specific products or substances used on plants to protect them from weeds, pests and diseases.

If you have any queries about plant protection products you should contact the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD), the government agency responsible for pesticides.

Using plant protection products

Before using any pesticide you must make sure that it is approved for the job you intend to do. The Pesticides Safety Directorate can help you with this if you need them to .

By law, all professional users of pesticides must be adequately trained and must follow the product label. You must also have training to store large amounts of pesticides for sale.

You can get details of training courses from the NPTC (certificates of competence for using pesticides) and BASIS (certificates of competence for storage and sale).

You can also become a member of a professional body, the National Register of Sprayer Operators, run by BASIS.

All professional users of pesticides should read and use the Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products. It is a statutory code of practice, which means that it can be given in evidence if you are prosecuted for a breach of pesticide laws.

Although there may be alternative ways of working, the code gives practical advice on how to use pesticides lawfully.

PSD produces a great deal of guidance and information about plant protection products and their use and much of this can be foundon the PSD website.

PSD also produces leaflets, taken from the code of practice, to help users understand what they should be doing to keep from breaking the law.
These leaflets include:

The amenity sector
Record keeping
Emergency procedures and action plans
Waste management on farms and smallholdings
Writing and managing contracts

The Crop Protection Association (CPA) produces a series of guidance leaflets on best practice for pesticide use – covering issues such as avoiding drift, emergency procedures and nozzle selection – through the Voluntary Initiative.

The CPA publications include:

Keeping residues well within the limits
Working within the pesticide residue limit
Every drop counts – keeping water clean
For the benefit of biodiversity
Integrated crop management

See the CPA publications page for a full list.

Protecting people

Pesticides are classified as hazardous chemicals and under Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations - COSHH you must carry out an assessment of the health risks from pesticides before work starts.

Any incident involving people and pesticides must be reported to the Health and Safety Executive.

The Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products provides good advice on how to protect people using the pesticide and people nearby.

Protecting the environment

If you use pesticides according to the advice in the Code of Practice and the approved conditions of use you should avoid any harmful environmental effects taking place.

You may wish to think about operating an Integrated Farm Management (IFM) system. An IFM system aims to reduce pesticide use by combining traditional farming methods with using pesticides and fertilisers only when absolutely necessary to keep animals and crops healthy.

Advice on IFM is available from PSD and Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF).

The Voluntary Initiative is a programme of measures agreed by the industry to minimise the environmental impacts of pesticides. These include

a number of best practice guides to help prevent the pollution of surface water arising from the use of various herbicides; and
Environmental Information Sheets for all products marketed by members of the Crop Protection Association. These advise on best practice in the use and disposal of the product. You should refer to the relevant Environmental Information Sheet before using the pesticide.

It is very important that you do not contaminate ground or surface water. You must not allow pesticides to drift into watercourses or ditches, even if they are dry at the time. The Code of Practice is an approved code under the Groundwater Regulations so it can give you practical advice on what to do to avoid this type of contamination.

The Code also tells you what to do if you are applying herbicides for control in or near water. Make sure you follow its advice, and make sure you contact the Environment Agency.

You should not contaminate field margins by direct application or from spray drift. The Code of Practice tells you how to avoid drift. Further information on protecting field margins is available from the Game Conservancy Trust and the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group.

In addition, some areas have special status in law. These include Sites of Special Scientific Interest. These sites must be protected from possible adverse effects resulting from pesticide use. English Nature should be consulted before spraying begins on SSSIs.

Waste management

The handling and disposal of solid, liquid and gaseous waste pesticides and their containers are controlled by legislation, including the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations - COSHH and the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2006.

Detailed advice about these and other laws is in Annex A of the Code of Practice for Using Plant Protection Products. If you want to dispose of pesticides or their containers you should read and follow Section 5.

You should keep up to date with current acceptable practice to ensure you are not breaking the law.