Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
in greenhouses and on nurseries, but it may be pumped in from a nearby sup-
ply of surface water, which is contaminated. Irrigation water on farms and
nurseries may not be suitable for even emergency decontamination because
pesticides have been or are being applied in the irrigation water. In these re-
mote outdoor locations, water for routine washing of the hands and face and for
emergency decontamination may be supplied in a carboy with a push-button
spigot. In some remote forestry situations, the only source of wash water is a
nearby stream.
2.
Health Monitoring
The large corporate agricultural establishments may have an on-staff oc-
cupational safety officer. The officer conducts biological monitoring of indi-
vidual handlers both for pesticide exposure and for heat stress symptoms. For
many other agricultural establishments, however, monitoring individual han-
dlers either for pesticide exposure or for heat-related illnesses is difficult.
Many of the smaller establishments are unequipped and resistant to conducting
intrusive monitoring such as blood or urine sampling of their employees.
Even body weight, temperature, and blood pressure monitoring is infeasible at
many of these facilities. Unlike a factory situation where employees work in
close proximity to one another and to sanitation and medical facilities, pesti-
cide handlers on agricultural establishments often work independently, totally
isolated from supervisory personnel, and often miles from any modern sanita-
tion or medical facilities. These handlers cannot rely on visual monitoring by
supervisors or on biological monitoring to aid in diagnosis and intervention in
the event of either a pesticide-related or heat-induced emergency. Even frequent
work breaks to recover from the heat stress symptoms, may be inconvenient
in some agricultural situations. There may be no nearby area that is suitably
shady and pesticide-free to enable a handler to remove the PPE and wash before
drinking the appropriate fluids and allowing the body temperature to return to
near-normal.
II. PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
PERFORMANCE AS A BARRIER TO PESTICIDES
A.
INTRODUCTION
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 environment. Owners,
