Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The negative effect of PPE on worker productivity combined with its re-
curring costs are leading many persons to pursue engineering controls and
other alternatives to PPE as the route to worker protection.
b.
Heat Stress
Similar to functional impacts, all PPE (with the possible exceptions of
gloves and eye and face protection) to a greater or lesser extent increases the
potential for heat stress when working in warm environments. As higher lev-
els of PPE are prescribed, persons in positions of responsibility must consider
the potential for heat stress. If the potential is significant, the expectations for
worker productivity must be reduced. Humans simply cannot work as long or
as hard under conditions in which the body is hindered (by PPE) in its attempt
to maintain thermal balance. Under some environmental conditions, certain
activities cannot be performed without jeopardizing the health of the worker
unless auxiliary cooling is provided to the worker. Chjapter 7 will discuss this
topic in more detail.
9.
Worker Training and Compliance
To be effective, PPE must be used and maintained properly. Training is
required. A myriad of federal and state programs are in place and being planned
to promote the correct use of PPE by pesticide handlers. Compliance comes
when workers understand the importance of the clothing to their personal
well-being and that of persons with whom they may come into contact. For
example, workers need to know why they should wear gloves, that there are
major performance differences between glove types, that one glove does not
work in all applications, that gloves must be decontaminated on at least a
daily basis, and that a glove with a hole in it may be worse than no glove.
Pesticide that reaches the inside of a glove does not readily evaporate and, thus,
is available for skin exposure during the entire time that the glove is worn.
Compliance also results when supervisors monitor and encourage the
proper
use of PPE as an essential element of the work routine.
10. Personal Protective Equipment Use
PPE use begins the moment the worker inspects the item for defects prior
to donning it. It ends when the item has been safely doffed and made ready for
thorough decontamination or disposal without transferring contamination to
other persons and things. The proper use between these two points in the
process requires training, monitoring, and encouragement.
