Pesticide spill kit: what Irish rules and the product SDS require

If someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk, call 112 or 999. For urgent poisons information the public number is 01 809 2166, every day from 8am to 10pm.

What does a chemical risk assessment say about spill kits?

The risk depends on the chemical and on how it is stored, transported, used, generated or disposed of.

The assessment starts with a list of all the chemicals brought in and those generated by work or waste, organised by job role or activity.

The exposure questions include whether non-users can be exposed, for example people working nearby, visitors, and cleaning or maintenance staff.

The assessment is reviewed at least once a year, and again when new employees, machinery, equipment or materials arrive.

Before you ask a supplier for a kit, write down what the kit has to cover:

• Which products you hold, in what quantities, and at which stage a leak could happen: unopened storage, measuring concentrate, filling the sprayer, spraying, or washing equipment.
• Whether the work is in a fixed store, a mixing area or a mobile contractor setup, and what the floor and drains look like there.

Send the supplier the full product names and current SDSs, not just "a herbicide spill kit". Ask what the stated absorption capacity means for your products and what else your procedure needs besides absorbent. Do not choose by headline capacity or the colour of the container. Keep the supplier's specification with the purchase record, and go back to it when the operation changes.

What does DAFM require in a professional pesticide store?

The DAFM minimum list for storage facilities of professional users includes these items:

• The store is not connected to a pack-house or any area where food is present, and is used only for plant protection products, biocides and other chemicals.
• It is enclosed, soundly built, has a secure lock, is well lit, and, if it is a walk-in store, is well ventilated.
• It is built so that leakages or spillages are retained within the store.
• Shelving is made of non-absorbent materials, and a warning sign is displayed on the entrance.
• A list of key emergency contact numbers (for example doctor, fire service) is displayed near the entrance.
• Protective clothing and equipment are recommended for the products, clean and properly maintained.
• There are calibrated scales and measures used only for plant protection products, and facilities for soaking up small spillages or leakages, for example a bucket of sand or peat.
• Powders are stored separately from or above liquids, products stay in their original containers, and there is an appropriate area for measuring and mixing.

Walk through your own store with this list and note what is missing. Also decide in advance how far a small spill can be handled by staff and when they step back and call for help. Write down who makes that call and how, and make sure relief staff and visitors working in the store know it and know where the kit is. For a mobile operation, decide where the kit and the SDSs travel and who checks them before leaving.

Where is the spill information in a safety data sheet?

An SDS must contain 16 headings, and its content should be specific to the chemical and not generic. The HSA calls it a key tool for risk assessment because it includes the emergency measures to be followed in case of an accident.

Keep the full SDS in the emergency file; a short contact card can point to it but should not replace it. If the trade name, PCS number or supplier on a document differs from the product you hold, sort that out before the document goes into the emergency file. The label and SDS guide covers matching the SDS edition to the product. Protective equipment is in section 8 of the SDS, and the HSA asks for the exact glove and filter type to be specified in the risk assessment. The PPE guide goes further.

What does section 6 of a real pesticide SDS say?

The Syngenta Ireland SDS for Elatus Era, a fungicide, is version 11.4, revised 20.06.2024, product registration number PCS 05379. Its section 6 says:

• Personal precautions: refer to the protective measures in sections 7 and 8.
• Prevent further leakage or spillage if safe to do so.
• Do not flush into surface water or the sanitary sewer system. If the product contaminates rivers, lakes or drains, inform the respective authorities.
• Contain the spillage, then collect it with non-combustible absorbent material (e.g. sand, earth, diatomaceous earth, vermiculite) and place it in a container for disposal according to local / national regulations.
• Clean the contaminated surface thoroughly with detergents and avoid solvents. Retain and dispose of the contaminated wash water.

Those lines belong to Elatus Era. The same section of another product's SDS has that product's own text, because an SDS is specific to the chemical. Use the example to learn the layout, then read the SDS of the product you actually hold, and do not copy one product's cleanup wording into another product's kit instructions.

Who do you call after a pesticide spill exposure?

For a life-threatening emergency call 112 or 999. The ambulance service asks for the phone number you are calling from, the address or location, and what has happened; the Eircode is very helpful if you know it.

The National Poisons Information Centre does not monitor emails continuously and asks for a call when poisons information is urgent. Members of the public call 01 809 2166 (8am to 10pm every day). Outside those hours, contact a GP or hospital, and in an emergency call 999 or 112.

The Elatus Era SDS says to have the product container, label or Safety Data Sheet with you when calling the emergency number, a poison control center or physician, or going for treatment. The poisons centre says to bring the container the poison was in if the person goes to hospital.

Prepare for the call before an incident:

• At a site you do not know, note the entrance and access details, and keep the number of someone who can describe the conditions.
• Tell the responder which products were present and which were confirmed released, and whether it was concentrate, a prepared mix or washings. Say "mixture" if it was one, not just "spray".
• Say plainly when an amount or sequence is uncertain, and do not delay the call to write a tidy report.
• Keep a copy of the SDS where it can be reached from a safe place, so nobody has to go back into the affected area to fetch a printout.
• Follow the product-specific instructions that the poisons centre or emergency service gives you.

What is the first aid for pesticide on skin, in eyes or swallowed?

• On the skin: avoid being contaminated yourself, remove contaminated clothing and wash the skin with running tap water for at least 15 minutes. Put nothing on the skin other than water.
• In the eyes: wash immediately for at least 15 minutes with water and put nothing in the eye other than water.
• If swallowed: do not make the person vomit, never give salt water, and give nothing to eat or drink unless healthcare staff direct it.
• If inhaled: do not enter a contaminated area without proper protective equipment, remove the person to fresh air as soon as possible and call for medical assistance.

In each case, call the Poisons Centre for immediate advice.

How does a spill affect water protection?

Pesticide users are obliged, at all times, to take appropriate measures to protect water. They must comply with the buffer zones indicated on the label and with the safeguard zones around drinking water. The Elatus Era SDS also says: do not contaminate ponds, waterways or ditches with the chemical or used container, and do not dispose of waste into the sewer.

When you tell a responder about a spill, describe the site as it is: which drains, ditches, surface water or wells are nearby, where product was seen outside containment, and what you have already done. Keep what you saw separate from what you assume, for example do not say the product has reached a watercourse unless you saw it, and do not say a discharge is stopped just because absorbent is lying nearby.

What records and waste route follow a cleanup?

After the urgent part is over, write down the product name, pack or batch details, time and place. Note whether the amount is known or estimated, how you estimated it, and the unit; the label capacity of a container is not the amount that was left in it. Record who gave each account, keep the original notes and messages, and if an account later changes, keep the earlier one with the reason. Enter the spilled and unused quantities in the stock and application records so the application record shows only what reached the crop.

Absorbent and wash water from the cleanup go to disposal under the product's section 13. In the Elatus Era SDS, section 13 says to dispose of waste in compliance with local regulations.

DAFM requires a professional user to keep a record for every disposal: the name of the disposal company or organisation, the brand name and PCS number of each product, the date and the quantity. These records are produced for inspection by an authorised officer on request. The pesticide-waste guide covers the waste route.

Give the waste receiver the product names and the circumstances, not just "used kit contents", and keep the receiver's paperwork and the actual quantities with the incident file. If the receiver refuses an item, keep it on a list of outstanding material until it has a destination, and do not close the incident's waste action while part of it is unresolved. If the receiver's paperwork lacks a product or quantity you need, ask the issuer to correct it and attach the reply.

Next step

Check the store against the DAFM list above, then read sections 6 and 13 of each product's SDS and plan the contaminated-waste route.