Final answer:
The employer is responsible for ensuring compliance with the WPS provisions, which include maintaining a safe workplace and educating employees about chemical hazards. This places the onus on employers to find safer methods that avoid or minimize risks from chemical exposure.
Step-by-step explanation:
The responsibility to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Worker Protection Standard (WPS) primarily rests with the employer. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), employers are tasked with maintaining a safe workplace by identifying and ameliorating health hazards and adhering to all safety standards. Strategies employers must employ include substituting dangerous chemicals with safer ones, using enclosed systems to limit exposure to harmful fumes, and implementing proper ventilation in the workplace to reduce risk.
Furthermore, employers are required to inform and educate workers about chemical hazards, which is essential in professions with high pesticide exposure risks such as agriculture, manufacturing, and retail involving pesticides, as well as emergency response personnel. The emphasis is on reducing the dependence on personal protective equipment by first addressing and mitigating hazards through changes in work practices and conditions.