Pesticide safety: assess farm tasks and specify the right PPE

Open HSA’s chemical risk-assessment guidance. The most important sources of hazard information for each pesticide are its label and its safety data sheet (SDS).

Start with the current Irish framework

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Chemical Agents) Regulations are collectively known as 2001 to 2026. The 2026 Code of Practice replaces the 2024 Code.

The UK COSHH Regulations do not apply in Ireland, and COSHH assessments do not meet the Irish legal requirements for risk assessments. A generic assessment is unlikely to meet the Irish legislation.

If you already have an assessment on file, check who prepared it, which activity it covers and which product documents it refers to. Keep the earlier version when you write a revised one and note what changed, so workers can tell the current instruction from old paperwork.

Work on a new activity involving hazardous chemical agents must not start until the risk of that activity has been assessed and the preventive measures identified in the assessment have been implemented.

Build the inventory around activities

The risk depends on the chemicals and on how they are stored, transported, used, generated or disposed of, so the assessment is based on activities.

Walk around the workplace, check purchase orders and list every chemical brought in, plus those generated by work activities or waste. Organise the list by job roles or activities. Where a job involves several chemical agents, the risk is assessed on the basis of all of them in combination.

Go through the real sequence of the job: receiving packs, storing them, measuring the concentrate, filling the machine, spraying, cleaning and maintaining contaminated parts. Include everyone who takes part in any step, even if they never drive the sprayer. “Spraying” alone hides several different situations, so for each step write down the product, the place, the equipment and the people.

If a contractor does the work, agree beforehand who supplies the chemicals, who mixes them and who does the wash-down and maintenance, and keep that note with the job. Do not assume the client’s equipment file describes the contractor’s method.

If the product is a restricted use pesticide, give your adviser the exact product, the planned use and the operator’s details. The Irish register guide helps you check the product conditions and the professional-user guide covers operator registration.

Collect the exact product information

A chemical label carries a signal word (danger or warning), may carry a pictogram and a hazard statement, and carries precautionary statements such as “wear protective gloves / protective clothing / eye protection / face protection”. The supplier provides the SDS: it holds detailed hazard information, advice on safe handling, use and storage, and the emergency measures for an accident.

The SDS has 16 sections. Section 4 is first-aid measures, section 6 accidental release measures, section 7 handling and storage and section 8 exposure controls and personal protection.

DAFM lists the Irish specimen labels by PCS number, product name and edition, for example “05379 - Elatus Era - 2024 to date”.

Check that the product name and the PCS number on your pack match the specimen label and the SDS before you read any protection advice. Keep the full documents, and write down separately the date you downloaded them and the revision date printed on the supplier’s SDS.

Elatus Era (PCS 05379) sets protection by task: coveralls, protective gloves and a faceshield when handling the concentrate; coveralls during application; coveralls and protective gloves when handling contaminated surfaces.

Roundup safety precautions for the actual job

The Roundup Flex Plus label (PCS 07261, 500 g/L glyphosate, for professional use only) gives the glyphosate safety precautions as one statement: “Wear protective gloves/ protective clothing/ eye protection/ face protection.” It adds “Collect spillage.” and the warning “Toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects”.

Elatus Era splits protection by task, while the Roundup Flex Plus label gives one general statement. The label/SDS comparison guide covers matching the product identity and edition.

For a Roundup enquiry, give the supplier the full product name, not just “Roundup”. Ask separately what protection they advise for handling the concentrate, for spraying and for cleaning the machine, and do not copy equipment from the instructions of another product.

Describe exposure rather than relying on a hazard name

A chemical can enter the body by inhalation, skin contact (splash, absorption through the skin), ingestion (for example not washing hands before eating) or injection.

• How is it used (for example sprayed or poured) and how often?
• How will the user be exposed, by breathing it in or by skin contact?
• How much is used or generated?
• How long is each user exposed, a full shift or a few minutes?
• Who uses it, and how many people?
• Are vulnerable groups exposed?
• Is the chemical mixed with other chemicals or exposed to high temperatures or pressure?
• Can non-users be exposed, for example people working nearby, visitors, cleaning or maintenance staff?

Describe the situation, not only the hazard. Opening a container, working inside a cab and dismantling a contaminated part are three different exposures. Say whether the person is exposed in normal work, during an equipment fault or in a likely handling accident. Write the place and the way the product is handled rather than just “low risk”, and note what supports your conclusion and which control changes the exposure.

Ask the workers about access to the store, whether the labels are readable, what they use to measure and whether clean supplies are at hand, and use their answers in the assessment.

Work through controls before selecting PPE

The order is: eliminate the hazard by changing the process or removing the chemical; if that is not possible, substitute a non-hazardous or less hazardous chemical, or a less hazardous form of the same chemical, such as a pellet instead of a powder to reduce inhalable dust.

Where neither is possible, exposure is minimised with additional controls:

• engineering controls, for example local exhaust ventilation (LEV), on-tool extraction, isolation or containment hoods or booths;
• a review of current work practices or procedures to reduce how often and how long people are exposed;
• training for employees on the chemicals currently used in the workplace;
• hygiene arrangements, for example separate meal and wash facilities;
• storage arrangements (section 7 of the SDS has the information), a good level of housekeeping and correct disposal of waste.

Before you order any equipment, ask whether the job can be avoided or changed. Keep the decision on whether a treatment is needed separate from the decision on how to protect people. For each control, write who provides it and who checks that it works, as an action someone can complete (not “take care”). If a control cannot be done with the machine or facilities you have, fix that before you treat the paperwork as finished.

Specify protection for the actual task

PPE includes eye protection, gloves, masks and respiratory masks (RPE). It is the last line of defence, it controls the residual risk after all other measures, and it protects only the user.

Information on the correct PPE and RPE is in section 8 of the SDS; if it is unclear, contact the supplier. The risk assessment specifies the exact glove type and filter type.

When you ask the supplier for a written specification, say whether the protection is for measuring the concentrate, spraying, cleaning or handling contaminated surfaces, and give the product, the formulation and the exposure. Treat eye protection, clothing, gloves, footwear and respiratory equipment as separate questions, and do not assume that an item used for another chemical suits the pesticide job.

Keep the supplier’s original wording and your question, and file the answer with the assessment. “Chemical gloves” or “spraying mask” is not a specification. A photo of a mask or a remembered filter colour is not enough either: settle the respirator with the supplier or a competent adviser.

Before buying, tell the adviser who will wear the kit and for which task. Ask how the items are meant to be used together and how to maintain, inspect and replace them. If the combination blocks the wearer’s sight, grip or ability to be heard, report it before the work starts. Keep the manufacturer’s user information with the equipment file.

Keep clean PPE and spill materials in the store

A pesticide store has the recommended protective clothing and equipment, clean and properly maintained, and facilities for soaking up small spillages or leakages, for example a bucket of sand or peat. Pesticides are stored only in their original containers, and powders are stored separately from or above liquids.

Decide where clean PPE is kept and where contaminated equipment is handled, and describe the route between the store, the mixing area, the machine and the wash facilities. Tell workers where to find the current documents and equipment instructions. If several people share a machine, agree how a fault or a contamination concern is passed on, and who arranges inspection, cleaning or replacement.

Prepare for spills and unexpected exposure

Emergency procedures for an accident, incident or spillage, such as eyewashes, showers and spill kits, are part of the control measures. The SDS has separate sections for first-aid measures and accidental release measures. The spill-kit guide covers incident handling.

Before work starts, decide where the product information is kept and who calls for help, so that another person can say which product and where. For a spill kit, list the chemicals and quantities and ask the supplier for compatible equipment. Keep incident evidence apart from routine spray records.

Record and review the assessment

Write down the findings (this can be part of work instructions) and discuss them with employees; consultation is necessary at every step. Where needed, an action plan details who is responsible, for what action and when it will be carried out.

The risk assessment is reviewed at least once per year and updated if necessary. A review is also necessary when new employees, machinery, equipment or materials arrive. Changes in work patterns such as overtime or shift work, and the needs of pregnant or nursing employees and those with special needs, are included.

Different formats suit different types of activity, and a template that works in one situation will not work in another.

Work in HSA’s order, which gives you a simple checklist for each farm task:

If an adviser wrote the assessment, compare it with your site, equipment, staff and methods. Where the assumptions do not match, sort that out with the author and keep the revised version.

Give workers an instruction they can use: explain the hazards, the chosen measures and what to do in an emergency in plain language, and name the product and equipment so it is not applied to a different job. For a relief operator or maintenance technician, add what is specific to their role, who answers questions about product documents and who can approve a change of equipment. The Irish record-sheet guide covers the record of what was actually applied.

Tyvek suits for pesticides

A Tyvek suit for pesticides is a coverall. Choose it from the label's protective clothing line for the task and the supplier's information, not by the name of the material alone.

Next step

Match each glove, clothing and respirator specification to the label and SDS of the product used.