A test method to assess operator safety using Closed Transfer Systems

Abstract

Closed transfer systems (CTS) are devices for the contactless transfer of plant protection products (PPP) into pesticide application equipment (PAE). They are intended to protect the operator against contamination with undiluted PPP during filling of the sprayer. CTS are universal and can be mounted on a wide range of different types and sizes of PAE. They are able to transfer the PPP from container of diverse sizes, enable also partial draining and containers can be easily rinsed after complete emptying.
At the moment there is no reliable information about the contribution of CTS to operator safety. For this reason a test method was established in order to compare the operator´s contamination after the dosing process using CTS and conventional filling into the PAE. Aim of the project was to quantify the dermal exposure at different parts of the operator´s body.
Instead of PPP a mixture of water and a fluorescent tracer (Pyranin) was used. It was filled into 10-Litercontainers and sealed. The operator was equipped with Personal Protective Clothing which was washed after the filling process in order to determine the amount of contamination on different parts of the body by using fluorometry. The different filling processes were performed by 3 different persons with 5 repetitions per setting using an attached field crop sprayer (RAU D2) with a CTS mounted on the induction hopper and also on the dome shaft.
The results show that CTS can significantly help to minimize operator exposure in comparison to conventional filling and that the test procedure established is able to fulfil the defined aims of testing CTS.