Personal protective equipment pesticides

In occupational settings, exposure to endosulfan is mainly via the dermal and inhalation routes. Although workers involved in the manufacture and formulation of pesticide products containing endosulfan are potentially exposed to high concentrations of the compound, actual exposure is probably limited by the use of engineering controls and personal protection equipment. The highest documented dermal and inhalation exposures have been reported for agricultural workers involved in the spray... 

Brouwer, D.H. and van Hemmen, J.J. (1994) Fitting personal protective equipment (PPE) to the hazard selection of PPE for various pesticide exposure scenarios in greenhouses, in Book of Abstracts of the American Industrial Hygiene Conference Exposition, American Industrial Hygiene Association, Anaheim, CA. 

Protective clothing and personal protective equipment - protective clothing, such as chemical-resistant gloves and coveralls, are often required during pesticide handling and application. Label requirements may also call for respiratory protection. Use of such personal protective equipment can dramatically reduce skin contact and inhalation exposures. 

Pesticides are used in residential settings by professional and non-professional users, who differ in a number of aspects. First, professionals are assumed to be skilled and healthy adults, while non-professionals may include the young and the old, the careless and the careful. For professionals, it is appropriate to assume that personal protective equipment is used however, such an assumption cannot be made for non-professionals, even when such precautions are recommended. Secondly, use frequencies and use duration will generally be larger for professionals when compared to non-professionals. Thirdly, as a consequence of their intensity of contact, professionals are expected to use higher amounts of pesticides than non-professionals. 

Pesticide handling activities and the recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) are addressed in Chapter 6. Pesticide storage, disposal, and spill management are also covered in this chapter. 

K. Equipment Safety E. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) III. THE PESTICIDE LABEL... 

CHAPTER 6 HANDLING OF PESTICIDES AND PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT... 

II. PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT PERFORMANCE AS A BARRIER TO PESTICIDES... 

Establishing selection guidelines for personal protective equipment and correlated work safety practices for the protection of handlers of agricultural pesticides is a challenge. A balance must be achieved between the goal of reducing the risks to the handlers and the reality of the limitations and complexities imposed by the agricultural workplace enviromnent. Owners,... 

Disposable personal protective equipment items are not designed to be cleaned and reused. Discard them when they become contaminated with pesticides. 

Place reusable items in a plastic bag or hamper away from your other personal clothes and away from the family laundry. Place disposables in a separate plastic bag or container. The pesticides remaining on your personal protective equipment, work clothing, and other work items could injure persons who touch them. Do not allow children or pets near them. Do not allow contaminated gloves, boots, respirators, or other equipment to be washed in streams, ponds, or other bodies of water. 

Clean all reusable personal protective equipment items between uses. Even if they were worn for only a brief period of exposure to pesticides during that day, wash them before you wear them again. Pesticide residues that remain on the personal protective equipment are likely to continue to move slowly through the personal protective equipment material, even chemical-resistant material. If you wear the personal protective equipment again, pesticide may already be on the inside next to your skin. Also, personal protective equipment that is worn several times between laundering may build up pesticide residues. The residues can reach a level that can harm you, even if you are handling pesticides that are not highly toxic. 

Be sure that the people who clean and maintain your personal protective equipment and other work clothes know that they can be harmed by touching the pesticide that remains on the contaminated items. Tell them that they should ... 

Store only pesticides, pesticide containers, pesticide equipment, and a spill cleanup kit at the storage site. Do not keep food, drinks, tobacco, feed, medical or veterinary supplies or medication, seeds, clothing, or personal protective equipment (other than personal protective equipment necessary for emergency response) at the site. These could be contaminated by vapors, dusts, or spills and cause accidental exposure to people or animals. 

Inspect containers regularly for tears, splits, breaks, leaks, rust, or corrosion. When a container is damaged, pnt on appropriate personal protective equipment and take immediate action. If the damaged container is an aerosol can or fumigant tank that contains pesticides under pressure, use special care to avoid accidentally releasing the pesticide into the air. When a container is damaged ... 

Excess pesticides and rinsates that cannot be used must be disposed of as wastes. Other pesticide wastes include such things as contaminated spill cleanup material and personal protective equipment items that cannot be... 

Put on appropriate personal protective equipment before contacting the spill or breathing its fumes. If you do not know how toxic the pesticide is or what type of personal protective equipment to wear, don t take a chance. Wear... 

Avoiding and reducing exposure to pesticides will reduce the harmful effects from pesticides. You can avoid exposure by using safety systems, such as closed systems and enclosed cabs, and you can reduce exposures by wearing appropriate personal protective equipment, by washing exposed areas often. 

Pesticides can move away from the release site when they are on or in objects or organisms that move (or are moved) offsite. Pesticides may stick to shoes or clothing, to animal fur, or to blowing dust and be transferred to other surfaces. When pesticide handlers, applicators, and users bring home or wear home contaminated personal protective equipment, work clothing, or other items, residues can rub off on carpeting, furniture, and laundry items and onto pets and people. 

All pesticide users and handlers need to keep abreast of current innovations in personal protective equipment, application technology and disposal techniques. 

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