Protecting Your Hands
Most farmers (90%) only wear work clothes and only 20% wear appropriate PPE during the phases of using plant protection products (Anses/IRSTEA Survey, 2013). These figures raise questions. Why so few precautions and what are the options for agricultural professionals to protect themselves effectively?
When handling phytopharmaceutical products, hand protection with suitable gloves and systematic washing of the hands are habits to maintain constantly.
Indeed, hands represent only 5% of the body surface but about 80% of the direct and indirect contacts of products with the skin.
- Direct contacts direct concern the operator during professional activity with plant protection products (handling jugs, nozzles or treated seeds, splashing, etc.)
- Indirect contacts are those transmitted by the operator (who has soiled hands) to their surroundings, colleagues, neighbors, or family. They occur via the tractor steering wheel, the phone, a handshake…
Risk in Agriculture
As a business owner, assessing risk is primarily to preserve your health and that of your employees. Safety and protection are essential at work. Because healthy people at work are the necessary prerequisite to "running" a business.
In the context of agricultural activities, a user can be endangered: contact with various toxic products, handling, driving machinery, accidents with animals… Risk assessment is crucial to implement effective prevention measures to protect users.
Risk prevention involves training and dissemination of procedures for use, adjustments, and emergency behavior. The application of individual and collective rules, and site organization is everyone's responsibility; the business owner must provide a Single Document for Risk Assessment and Prevention (DUER)*.
- The DUER: a legally required document since 2001. It lists, in order of importance, all occupational risks to which employees are exposed and the measures (prevention plan) to reduce or eliminate these risks. If an accident not listed in the DUER occurs, the employee can take action against the company, and if they do not, the insurance will! For an employer, the absence of a DUER entails criminal liability. When updating or creating one, a farmer can request support from the MSA for drafting their DUER.
What Tools and Equipment Are Available?
Risk in agriculture is analyzed, understood, and controlled through preventive actions and by arranging and organizing tasks:
To learn more about the details of the different tools – click here
PPE: Personal Protective Equipment (7 types: gloves, vests, aprons, coveralls, goggles, masks, boots).
CPE: Collective Protective Equipment or MCP: Collective Means of Protection.
