Employees who work with pesticides must be provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) where other controls are not reasonably practicable or fail to give the required level of protection.

The use of PPE must comply with any relevant conditions of approval for the pesticide as shown on the chemical MSDS sheet. Reference must also be made to the Code of Practice for the Safe Use of Pesticides on Farms and Holdings.(see below)

It is recommended that PPE is provided on a personal basis, but there may be circumstances when more than one person needs to wear the items concerned. In such cases the PPE must be cleaned and where appropriate, disinfected before being issued to the next wearer.

It is important to remove promptly any heavy contamination of PPE by pesticides as use of contaminated equipment leads to increased risk of exposure.

PPE must be inspected before, during and after each day’s use so that damaged items can be repaired or replaced before further work with pesticides is undertaken.

Storage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) must be in a well-ventilated lockable cupboard separate from other clothing and non-pesticide items and should be appropriately located.