OPERATOR SAFETY DURING PESTICIDE APPLICATION IN GREENHOUSES: A SURVEY ON ITALIAN SITUATION

Greenhouses are microcosms aimed at providing physical environments suitable for increase growth and production of crops.
Pesticide application is a common practice to improve quality and quantity of agricultural products.
Unfortunately, the enclosed conditions mean that greenhouse workers are more exposed to higher levels of plant protection products than general agricultural workers.
This paper reports the results of a survey covering several aspects related to pesticide applications and operators safety in Italy, among which equipment used, operating parameters, number of applications, volume rates, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), are emphasized.
The results show that 40 percent of farmers make between 10 and 20 applications a year, and 28 percent more than 20 applications.
The most frequent (57%) volume rates are in the range 1000-2000 L/ha and lances and spray guns (71%), with both forward and backward movement, are the most common equipment.
The use of PPE isn’t widespread as it should be: during mixture preparation, workers don’t use at all gloves (26%), overalls (35%), masks (35%), and boots (67%), while during applications, 14 percent of workers don’t protect the respiratory tract and 14 percent don’t wear overalls (31 percent wear textile overalls).

International Symposium on High Technology for Greenhouse System Management: Greensys2007

E. Cerruto, P. Balsari, G. Oggero, D. Friso, A. Guarella, M. Raffaelli

exposure, contamination, personal protective equipment, sprayer

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.801.186