CalREDIE/PIR Guide 2013
Pesticide Illness Surveillance And Pesticide Illness Reporting
How to Report a Pesticide Illness
Physician or other licensed health care professional
California laws and regulations require physicians and other licensed health care professionals to report any known or suspected case of pesticide-related illness or injury to the Local County Health Officer within 24 hours. Please collect as much information as possible on the pesticide exposure from the patient during the examination and use one of the following four methods for reporting.
1. Report by calling the local health officer
Physicians and other licensed health care professionals can call their local health department. For a list of phone numbers to call in each county, please click here.
2. Report by calling the California Poison Control System (CPCS)
Physicians and other licensed health care professionals can call a Poison Control Center to report a case as well as seek advice from them for treating and managing a possible pesticide illness or injury.
The Poison Control contact number for health care providers is 1-800-411-8080.
3. Report by submitting (fax) a Pesticide Illness Report or a Confidential Morbidity Report to the local health officer
Physicians and other licensed health care professionals may fax the completed Pesticide Illness Report (PIR) form or Confidential Morbidity Report (CMR) to the local health officer. For a list of fax numbers to send reports to in each county, please click here.
4. Electronic reporting via the CalREDIE Provider Portal
Physicians can report pesticide illness using CalREDIE. For more information, please visit the California Department of Public Health CalREDIE website or contact the CalREDIE Help Desk at CalREDIEHelp@cdph.ca.gov or (866) 866-1428. If you are interested in using the Provider Portal, please contact your local health jurisdiction to sign up for an account and for more information.
For a workers compensation case of pesticide illness or injury, in addition to reporting the case to the Local Health Officer within 24 hours using one of the previously stated methods, the physician must also file the Doctor's First Report of Occupational Injury or Illness Form (DFR) and send it to the patient’s employer or employer’s insurance carrier and to the Department of Industrial Relations within 5 days of the first visit, and to the Local Health Officer within 7 days of the first visit. If using electronic reporting, CalREDIE will conveniently fill and provide a DFR to be downloaded.
California laws and regulations require local health officers to immediately notify the County Agricultural Commissioner of a pesticide illness case and to submit a pesticide illness report (PIR) to OEHHA and DPR and for a work-related illness or injury, to the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) within seven days.
1. Faxed PIR
Local Health Officers must submit pesticide illness reports received from physicians and other licensed health care professionals or sent on behalf of providers by Poison Control on a PIR form to OEHHA and DPR, and for work related cases, to DIR within seven days.
2. CalREDIE/PIR
Pesticide illness reports received from physicians and other licensed health care professionals can be entered into CalREDIE and must be submitted within seven days. CalREDIE will automatically inform both OEHHA and DPR. However, for work related cases, the LHO must still submit pesticide illness reports to DIR within seven days. A User Guide is available for new local and state users of CalREDIE/PIR.
Contact Info
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
Pesticides and Environmental Toxicology Branch
P.O. Box 4010
Sacramento, CA 95812-4010
Phone: (510) 622-3170 and Fax: (916) 327-7320
Department of Pesticides Regulation
Worker Health and Safety Branch
P.O. Box 4015
Sacramento, CA 95812-4015
Phone: (916) 445-4222 and Fax: (916) 322-8577
Department of Industrial Relations
Office of the Director – Research Unit,
P.O. Box 420603,
San Francisco, CA 94142-0603.
Phone: (415) 703-3020 and Fax: (415) 703-3029
Pesticide Illness Investigation and Surveillance
Per California law, local health officers may request assistance from OEHHA to conduct epidemiologic investigations of pesticide poisoning outbreaks and to develop recommendations to control or prevent poisonings. For reports on specific investigations, please select a link below:
- Final Report, Illness Indicators in Lompoc, California. An Evaluation of Available Data
- Seizures after eating a snack food contaminated with the pesticide endrin: The tale of the toxic taquitos.
- Outbreak of Omite-CR-induced dermatitis among orange pickers in Tulare County, California.
- A Review of Acute Toxicity Studies Results on the Light Brown Apple Moth Pheromone Active Ingredient and Four LBAM Pheromone Products.
- Health Risk Assessment of Malathion Coproducts in Malathion-Bait Used for Agricultural Pest Eradication in Urban Areas.
OEHHA Contact Information: Pesticides@oehha.ca.gov or (510) 622-3170