Wood Pallet Makers and Users: Attend ISPM 15 Standards Workshops April and May in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio — If your company makes or uses pallets, crating or other wood products for shipping goods to and from foreign countries, it is important to understand the ins and outs of the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM 15), which have been recently put in place and could affect the way your business operates.

To help clarify any confusion or misunderstanding regarding the ISPM 15 standards, Ohio State University Extension will be hosting three educational workshops on “Phytosanitation and Exporting with Wood-packaging Materials”: April 30 in Dayton, May 4 in Chillicothe, and May 5 in Sugarcreek.

“Many are aware first-hand what an invasive species like emerald ash borer (EAB) can cost our communities, states and the federal government,” said Amy Stone, an educator with the Lucas County office of OSU Extension. “With this issue in mind, the workshop will discuss how the ISPM 15 can help reduce the risk of other invasive species being introduced.”

EAB, an exotic beetle from Asia that kills natives North American ash trees, is believed to have hitched a ride on pallets or wood crating coming into the port of Detroit in the 1990s (find more information at http://ashalert.osu.edu).

The International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures were developed by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) to address the introduction and/or spread of quarantine pests associated with wood-packing materials (including dunnage) made of coniferous and non-coniferous raw wood used in global trade.

Aside from the dangers that wood pests pose to U.S. agriculture and natural resources, businesses that don’t comply with ISPM 15 could experience significant loss of time and money, as shipments that are infested or accompanied by uncertified wood packaging could be rejected by the United States or other countries.

All workshops will be held from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Locations are Cox Arboretum & Gardens Metro Park, 6733 Springboro Pike, Dayton; Ross County OSU Extension Office, 475 Western Avenue, Suite F, Chillicothe; and the Carlisle Inn, 1357 Old Route 39, Sugarcreek.

Cost is $30 per person and includes lunch. For a registration form, log on to http://www.glacierlandrcd.org/Events.htm or contact Stone at (419) 578-6783 or stone.91@cfaes.osu.edu.

Sponsored by the Glacierland Resource Conservation and Development Inc., OSU Extension, and several other agencies, the workshops will be offered in a total of seven Midwestern states. A complete list of dates and locations (some may be closer to Ohio businesses depending on where they are located) can be found on the registration form.

Regardless of which workshop you attend, the schedule is the same:

• 9 a.m., registration.

• 9:30 a.m., “Wood Packing Materials — Treatment for Export: History of ISPM 15.”

• 9:50 a.m., “Methods of Treating.”

• 10:05 a.m., “ISPM 15 Certification — Why is It Needed and Who Can Do the Certification?”

• 10:25 a.m., break.

• 10:45 a.m., “ISPM 15 and PHYTO — What Is the Difference?”

• 11:05 a.m., “ISPM 15 Certification — Who Requires It?”

• 11:25 a.m., “What is Involved in an ISPM 15 Certification?”

• 11:50 a.m., “Who is Involved in ISPM 15 — Agencies and Organizations.”

• Noon, open discussion.

• 12:30 p.m., lunch.

• 1 p.m., post-workshop discussion.

Main speakers will be David and Virginia De Broux, who in 2007 founded Forest Products Services LLC to provide supervisory services to facilities that manufacture or heat-treat wood-packing materials in the Midwest.

OSU Extension (http://extension.osu.edu) is the outreach arm of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

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