During November, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Pesticide Enforcement Officers (PEOs) began an initial phase of farm visits as part of the next step of the Official Control Regulations (OCRs).
Introduced in 2020, the OCRs placed a duty on professional users of plant protection products (PPPs) to register with Defra. Now the next step in this process involves inspection visits to check how well PPP users are complying with the law.
They are likely to visit a few hundred farms during the coming months – and the main criteria for selecting the farms to be visited include:
- Farms that are 150 acres or more.
- Farms that are not currently registered as a PPP user under the OCR.
- Farms that have not been visited by the HSE in the past five years.
Most visits will be carried out by appointment, but some may be unannounced. Visits will focus on the management of PPPs – looking at storage, handling, application equipment, record keeping and LERAPs (Local Environment Risk Assessments for Pesticides).
Although the purpose of the visit is not to check compliance with general health and safety law, the PEOs may refer issues to a local health and safety inspector if a serious health and safety breach is identified during the visit.
Details on how to register as a professional user of PPPs are available here. If you have any queries or need help completing the form, please contact us on 01981 590514.
