Scotland's Annex F: record sheet for pesticide treatments is an official example for organising treatment information. Use it with later professional-user duties: the Scottish code was published in 2007, while HSE's later guidance states that professional users keep application records for three years. The GB Plant Protection Products Regulations 2011 enforce the professional-user record requirement through regulation 19. [1][2][3][4]
Open the official Scottish Annex F. It is published as readable HTML, with a suggested record layout and explanatory notes. Use this guide to understand the columns, interpret the older code's context and keep contractor evidence connected with the farm's own record. [1]
Read the form as a treatment record
Annex F says columns can be added or removed for the circumstances of particular treatments. For written records it suggests a large book opened across a double page, allowing information to be seen together. That is practical layout advice: retain the information required for your actual operation when adapting the example. [1]
Begin with one completed application and the operator's original note. Identify the field or other treatment location, product identity and application date before deciding how to organise the page. Keep your chosen layout readable to someone who did not carry out the work. If you maintain digital records, preserve a clear relationship between entries and any supporting documents.
The code's section 6 describes records beyond spraying alone, including chemical stores, COSHH assessments, environmental assessments, exposure controls, health surveillance and waste. Those categories have different purposes. A treatment sheet should point to relevant supporting information while each document remains identifiable in its own category. [2]
The Annex F fields, in working order
| Part of the treatment | Information in the Scottish example |
|---|---|
| Identity | Worker's name and job reference |
| Timing | Date, start time, finish time and total hours |
| Location | Site and crop, area, material or structure treated |
| Purpose | Reason for treatment |
| Product | Product name and MAPP or HSE number |
| Quantities | Dose, volume, total product and total treated area |
| Conditions | Weather, including wind speed and direction |
| Follow-through | Relevant restrictions, notifications, signs and problems |
Annex F distinguishes dose in litres or kilograms per hectare, volume applied in litres per hectare, total product used in litres or kilograms and treated area in hectares or square metres. Preserve the unit with each value; the headings represent different quantities. [1]
Prepare an internal field directory if site nicknames vary between staff or contractors. Keep the job reference beside the original note, and enter each quantity under the heading that describes it. If the note contains an ambiguous number, return to the person who can explain it. Do not make the field's total size stand in for an unknown treated extent.
List every product in a mixture
The first Annex F note says to show all products when a mixture is used. Link the product identity and relevant quantity in a way that remains understandable after printing or exporting. A shorthand mixture name in a job book may need explanation before someone else can review the operation. [1]
When checking an entry, read the full treatment description aloud: the worker applied the listed products to the identified place, for the stated reason, on the recorded date. Continue through dose, volume and extent. If the record stops making sense halfway through that sentence, identify the field needing clarification before saving a revised copy.
For the broader completion workflow and a labelled quantity example, use the spray record form guide. For a product-identity question, keep the container or authorisation reference attached to the application information used by your business.
Restrictions and notifications belong with the job
Annex F's second note includes periods when crops should not be harvested, people or animals should not enter, or ventilation is needed. It also includes whether crops or weeds are flowering, notifications to neighbours or beekeepers, warning signs being displayed and removed, and problems encountered during use. [1]
Section 6 explains why records help manage harvest intervals, repeat applications and livestock or worker exclusions. Organise the record so the relevant restriction can be located by the person making the next operational decision. The harvest and access guide develops that connection without inventing a standard waiting period for every product. [2]
Use the notes to describe what happened at the site. If a notice was given, identify the associated communication in your own index. If signs were used, retain enough information to understand their timing. Where a problem required follow-up, keep the subsequent explanation connected to that entry instead of leaving it in an unrelated email thread.
Annex F also recommends noting treatment effectiveness and any damage after an appropriate time. Keep those observations distinct from the original application details, with an observation date and enough context to show which treatment is being assessed. [1]
Use later retention guidance with the older code
The Scottish code's 2007 summary gives “To be decided” for the retention period of pesticide treatments and describes a future duty for other professional users. The later GB regulation and HSE guidance supply the professional-user record duty and three-year retention explanation. Reading the old table alone would miss that later legal context. [2][4][3]
HSE distinguishes professional-user records, kept for three years, from producer, supplier, distributor, importer and exporter records, kept for five. Identify your role and the document type before deciding which retention rule belongs in your archive notes. [3]
Keep historical records legible during a software change. Make an index of the years and locations covered, retain the original identifying information and check a sample of older entries after transfer. If a business has both application and supply activities, label those record sets separately so an administrator can recognise the different roles without reconstructing them from filenames.
Obtain the contractor's information
The Scottish code recommends keeping records at the farm or local office, where they can be accessed rather than being held only by suppliers, contractors or advisers. It says the contractor should make and retain application records and that the owner, occupier or local treatment manager should ask for a copy. [2]
Agree a handover procedure for the next contract. Specify the business and job reference, actual site, operator, application details and relevant supporting records. Name the person on the customer side who will check the report and request clarification. Retain the version received and any correction together.
If a contractor works in Northern Ireland as well, keep those jobs marked with their jurisdiction. DAERA's rules about machine-readable originals and customer copies belong to that separate workflow; the contract handover guide explains the distinction.
Scottish BPS and the inspection report
Scottish Basic Payment Scheme guidance requires farmers and crofters to observe cross compliance. Rural Payments also publishes a page of cross-compliance inspection control report forms, including a plant-protection-products SMR 10 report. Keep those scheme documents distinct from the treatment diary. [5][6]
The control report is organised for an inspection; Annex F is the published example for your treatment record. If a search returns both, choose the document matching your immediate task. To prepare your own treatment entry, use Annex F. To understand an inspection communication, retain the specific form and version referenced in the communication. [1][6]
Rehearse the document trail with an application selected from your archive. Find the field, date, product identity, dose, total product, treated area and operator. Locate the contractor copy if applicable. Match any restrictions or notifications to the same treatment. Ask another person to repeat the exercise using the index and identify the points that still need explanation.
Registration is another part of the Scottish file
Defra's professional-user registration route applies to England, Scotland and Wales. It includes farms with third-party application and contractors operating on other people's land. Its guidance asks for business addresses and activity information, which serve a different purpose from the columns in Annex F. [7]
Use the registration guide to prepare that business information. Place the submission copy and any processing correspondence in the administrative index, while keeping individual applications arranged by the period and location that make them easy to retrieve.
Keep local information available for an incident
Section 6 recommends recording treatments near occupied properties and retaining information such as product identity, assessments, notices and signs. It also stresses providing accurate information promptly where someone suggests they have been affected by pesticide use. These recommendations explain why an accessible treatment file matters beyond a scheduled farm inspection. [2]
Maintain a short handover note explaining where records are stored, how field names correspond and who can retrieve contractor documents. Include the person responsible for resolving product or quantity questions. Review the note when staff responsibilities change so the record remains usable without the original author being present.