A LERAP record explains the aquatic buffer decision for the spraying operation. HSE says an eligible buffer reduction requires a recorded Local Environment Risk Assessment for Pesticides; keeping the labelled buffer also requires that decision to be recorded. For qualifying Category B wording, the results must remain available for three years. [1][2]
Keep this assessment connected with the treatment entry. The treatment identifies the product, place, date and application; the LERAP record explains the buffer decision and relevant circumstances. This guide follows HSE's official scheme documents and example form, with the horizontal-boom and broadcast air-assisted routes kept distinct. [4][5]
Establish which buffer arrangement applies
HSE says only five-metre aquatic buffers are reducible under the horizontal-boom LERAP scheme; buffers greater than five metres cannot be reduced through it. The scheme booklet also distinguishes aquatic protection from buffers safeguarding hedges and field margins. Start with the actual product's authorisation and label wording before choosing an assessment route. [1][4]
| Situation | Record decision to organise |
|---|---|
| Product eligible for a five-metre horizontal-boom reduction | Keep the qualifying assessment and resulting distance |
| Labelled buffer maintained | Record the decision and applied distance |
| Buffer greater than five metres under the horizontal-boom scheme | Preserve the specified distance; that buffer is not reducible under this scheme |
| Broadcast air-assisted application | Use the separate broadcast air-assisted guidance |
| Product without an aquatic-buffer requirement | The horizontal-boom booklet says LERAP requirements do not apply |
These distinctions come from HSE's overview and horizontal-boom booklet. Do not select the route by copying the previous job's buffer entry; the product and equipment circumstances need to match the operation being recorded. [1][4]
HSE's register supports searches by authorisation features, including LERAP restriction, and provides notices for changes to products. Use the relevant authorisation document to identify the actual product conditions, then retain its reference beside the treatment information. [7]
Use Sections A and B for their stated purposes
Open HSE's example LERAP record. Section A records the buffer zone applied. Section B is also completed where a LERAP assessment has reduced an eligible five-metre pesticide buffer. The form states that Category A and greater-than-five-metre distances cannot be reduced. [3]
Prepare the product, date, field name or number, crop and reason information together. Keep the applied buffer distance in metres beside the job. If an eligible reduction is assessed, retain the dose, sprayer information, watercourse-width category, resulting distance, assessor and assessment date in the supporting record. [3][4]
For your own archive, link the completed form to the application using a reference understandable to both the applicator and office staff. Use the same field directory as the treatment diary. If a supporting map is retained, label it so the record keeper can identify which edge and watercourse the assessment concerns.
Gather the watercourse information accurately
The horizontal-boom booklet instructs users to measure watercourse width at its narrowest point next to the spray area and record the measurement. It distinguishes widths below three metres, between three and six metres, and above six metres at the time of spraying. It also says a map annotation may help but is not compulsory, and that remeasurement is unnecessary if width has not changed. [4]
Keep the observation related to the watercourse actually beside the treatment. If a previous measurement is being reused, establish whether its conditions still describe the operation. Record the information in a way that another person can follow without standing beside the original assessor.
Do not replace the watercourse observation with the field's overall width or a buffer distance remembered from another product. Those quantities answer different questions. The field identifies the treatment, the watercourse information contributes to the assessment and the final buffer is the result to be applied and recorded. [4]
Identify equipment by recognised status
HSE's overview says spray equipment without formal CRD recognition as LERAP low drift is treated as a standard reference sprayer for the scheme, irrespective of manufacturer claims. Its horizontal-boom booklet instructs users to record the equipment's LERAP low-drift star rating and operate it under the conditions of its official grading. [1][4]
Keep enough equipment information in your own directory to connect the job with the relevant rating and operating conditions. A generic note saying “low drift” is a question to resolve if it does not identify the equipment and status used for that particular assessment. Preserve the supporting reference instead of relying on an informal description.
HSE also describes authorisations requiring recognised three-star drift-reduction technology and specified buffers of six, twelve or eighteen metres, with a second thirty-metre distance beyond which DRT is not required. It says those distances cannot be reduced under LERAP and that the specified buffer is entered in Section A. Keep these arrangements separate from the reducible five-metre route. [1]
Record the dose used in the assessment
The horizontal-boom booklet bases the assessment on the intended dose as a percentage of the maximum permitted single-application dose for any crop. It describes quarter, half, three-quarter and full-rate bands for the assessment. This is a scheme calculation with its own definitions, rather than a recommendation to choose a reduced product dose. [4]
Retain the product reference, relevant maximum and intended rate used in the calculation. Label each quantity and its unit. If another person checks the record, they should be able to understand the inputs without having to infer which crop maximum or product version was used.
For tank mixtures, the booklet says the product with the widest buffer requirement determines the buffer for the mixture; the individual distances are not added together. Keep the product-specific information so that the recorded decision can be traced through the mixture. [4]
Complete the minimum horizontal-boom record
HSE lists assessment date, sprayer type and any low-drift star rating, product, dose, resulting unsprayed buffer width, assessor name and watercourse width as the minimum record for the horizontal-boom assessment. It says the decision must still be recorded when the standard five-metre buffer is retained. [4]
Read the finished record alongside the application entry. Check that product and location agree and that the relevant assessment belongs to the actual operation. Confirm that the recorded result is a distance with a unit. Keep the identity of the person who made the decision, rather than replacing it with the name of the person who later filed the form.
If a correction is needed, preserve the original information and the reason for revising the record. Identify the treatment affected and ensure the archive contains the version used for the customer copy. For contracted work, agree who supplies and retains the assessment along with the application information.
Keep the orchard scheme separate
HSE publishes a different booklet for broadcast air-assisted sprayers. Its contents include living windbreaks, reduced dose rates, wind speed and direction, crop types and equipment types, followed by assessment and recording steps. The equipment-specific route is a material part of the assessment. [5]
A vineyard or orchard site name does not by itself choose the correct assessment method. Establish the equipment actually used and the product conditions, then use the matching official guidance. If a contractor supplies a record, ask which scheme the assessment follows and retain the relevant reference with the job.
For an orchard's wider record, keep harvest restrictions and other treatment information in the main diary as well. The harvest and access guide explains how to link those operational restrictions without treating an aquatic-buffer assessment as a substitute for all other records.
Retain and retrieve the decision
HSE's Category B wording requires the LERAP results to be recorded and kept available for three years. The Scottish code's record summary also identifies a three-year retention category for LERAPs, separate from other types of pesticide-related documents. [2][6]
File the assessment under the treatment reference and include it in the archive index. Test retrieval by selecting a past job and locating the record, product reference and application information together. If you move from paper to software, compare the transferred decision and supporting values with the original rather than preserving only a picture of the form.
For contractor responsibilities, continue with record handover. To organise the main treatment data, use the spray record form guide. Keep the assessment's purpose clear: it documents the relevant buffer decision for the actual operation.
Retain the assessment inputs, not just its answer
The horizontal-boom booklet sets out a four-step sequence: gather the information, work out the unsprayed width, record the decision and carry out the operation. For the percentage calculation it places rates in bands of 0–25%, 25.1–50%, 50.1–75% and 75.1–100% of the maximum permitted single-application dose for any crop. Those bands belong to this assessment method. [4]
If a reduced dose is used to reduce the buffer, the booklet says the same product cannot be reapplied to that area within 48 hours. Preserve the assessment date and application history needed to understand that condition. The booklet also describes operating conditions attached to officially graded equipment, usually forward speed, boom height and pressure limits. Retain the equipment reference that explains the rating used in the assessment. [4]
For an administrative review, put the source values beside the result: applicable maximum, actual rate, percentage band, equipment rating and watercourse measurement. Check calculations against the cited scheme table. This worksheet is a suggested review aid; the official booklet supplies the rules and qualifying conditions. Do not use the band descriptions as advice about which rate will control a pest.
What makes an orchard windbreak count?
The broadcast air-assisted booklet gives specific conditions for a living windbreak to be included in that scheme's assessment. It must consist of broad-leaved trees or shrubs rather than conifers, be managed for crop protection or drift reduction, stand at least two metres above the crop, extend along the full boundary between crop and watercourse, have no gaps, and have visible leaves throughout its length. [5]
Those details identify a particular site feature, rather than accepting any hedge as a qualifying barrier. Keep the observation connected with the assessment: the assessor needs to identify the actual boundary and the conditions that were present. A photograph or site sketch in your own supporting archive should retain its date and location so it can be understood later.
The booklet explains that conifers may deflect spray down onto the watercourse behind them. It also says a reduced rate used to reduce a buffer must apply to the area within 50 metres of the watercourse, rather than only to the buffer itself. Both points show why a short note such as “hedge present, reduced rate” leaves relevant circumstances unexplained. [5]
Distinguish weather observations from scheme factors
The broadcast air-assisted guidance says wind speed and direction are not LERAP factors in that scheme, while acknowledging their influence on drift. Keep that distinction when transcribing an assessment: information may be useful in the treatment diary without being an input to the scheme calculation. [5]
Equipment classification also matters. The orchard booklet defines broadcast air-assisted equipment by droplets carried outward and upward in a forced-air stream. It excludes horizontal-boom equipment, which has its own route, and tunnel sprayers, which are outside both described categories. It states a default five-metre buffer for tunnel applications of products with a buffer, without reduction through a LERAP assessment. [5]
Before accepting a contractor's orchard assessment, identify the equipment category, product, boundary and observed conditions. Ask the author to explain an unfamiliar abbreviation rather than assigning a classification from the crop name. Keep the response with the assessment, then compare its identifiers with the main treatment entry.