Protect Yourself
Protect yourself from pesticide exposure at work by:
1) Properly wearing clean personal protective equipment
• These are sold by pesticide sellers or safety supplies stores
2) Wear the right clothing, depending on the chemicals you’re around or using
two types of protective clothing worn on top of your work clothes (8): clothing you can use once and throw away, or clothing that is reusable and can be washed.
Man in his garden wearing protective gloves, a long sleeve shirt, mask, and eye protection as he sprays his bottle of pesticides. Photo credit goes to Cade Martin.
Protect your eyes: by wearing eye goggles or a full face mask.
Protect your hands: by wearing rubber or plastic gloves. Wear long sleeves over your gloves, so pesticides don’t get in your gloves. Rinse your gloves after coming in contact with pesticides before taking them off, and then wash your hands after removing them.
Protect your feet: Wear boots to protect your feet, but not leather ones. Wear your pants outside of your boots so that no pesticides get in your shoes.
Protect your lungs: by wearing a respirator on your mouth and nose. Not all people can wear these masks, so you must get a check up at the doctor before using one. Adjusting the size of the mask so that it fits you is important. Be sure to test the mask before handling chemicals with it on.
