Efficiency of Protective Clothing for Pesticide Spraying

Measurements in the United Kingdom of the exposure of operators to pesticide sprays were used to indicate the performance required of protective clothing. Laboratory tests, designed to simulate maximum levels of contamination, as far as practicable, were then applied to protective clothing materials and finished items to facilitate the development of national and international standards of performance. Studies of the relative efficiencies of protective garments in field spraying operations were also undertaken to assess the value of laboratory test data for the selection of effective spray suits. High protection factors, based on the ratio of the amounts of spray chemical found on and inside the clothing, were usually recorded in the field studies. The correlation of performance data with laboratory test data was only fair. The laboratory tests of permeation and penetration posed high levels of contamination, however, and tended to err therefore on the side of safety in assessments of the potential efficiency of protective clothing.