PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) RESOURCES FOR THE FARM

Dusts:  This category includes small particles that may be from organic materials, bacteria, endotoxin, fungal spores, or dust with pesticide residues.

• • Whenever tasks generate airborne concentrations of dust, we need to consider its composition and how it may interact with the eyes, respiratory system, and skin.
  • Eye protection should be selected based on whether dusts are moving with speed (impact hazard) or settling in the air.
  • Respiratory protection for dust ranges from simple filtering facepiece respirators (“N95s”) to full-facepiece respirators, depending on the inhalation hazard of the dust.
  • Coveralls may be sufficient to prevent clothing contamination of some hazardous dusts.

Compressed gases: This category includes items such as liquid propane (LPG) and welding gas cylinders.

• • Eyewear is often suggested when conducting tasks where gases could be released.  Some gases may need protective gloves.
  • Propane, for example, can cause frostbite if contacts the skin. Thus, gloves need to be chemical resistant and provide suitable cold protection when “filling cylinders” from a storage tank.

Confined spaces:  These include grain bins, manure storage structures, and silos.

• • If you don’t know whether there is sufficient oxygen or whether concentrations of gases in the space are dangerous (e.g., you don’t have a gas monitor), entry using a supplied air respirator is the only safe entry.
  • These spaces may also have physical hazards and depending on what is in the space and how entry/exit conditions are, a retractable lifeline and safety harness are likely needed for the entrant.

Potential projectiles: This includes dust and other byproducts from cutting, grinding, sawing, drilling, and mowing.

• • Eye and face protection is important to prevent impact of solid particles that can damage the eyes and skin.
  • When cutting trees, for example, the cutting device (chainsaw) introduces additional hazards, that may suggest additional protection needs to be worn because of the hazard of the blade itself:  leg and foot protection are recommended as well as eye/face protection when using a chainsaw.

Sound levels: The rule of thumb is that when you are in environments that make you raise your voice to be heard, the sound level may be approaching or in hazardous range, resulting in reduced hearing loss over time.

• • Sound commonly in this range is generated by machinery, livestock, tools
  • Hearing protection, either muffs or plugs, is commonly used to minimize the risk of hearing loss from a lifetime of exposure to noises from agricultural operations

Working at Heights: A personal fall arrest system is recommended when working 6 feet above ground level.

Working Below Others or in Tight Spaces:  Consider the risk of anything falling from above or hitting your head on anything.

• • Head protection includes a hard hat, safety helmet, or bump cap, each of which has different performance characteristics.

Information on guidance to select PPE to use for pesticides is summarized in this motion graphic:  https://youtu.be/ePDXNt3yITQ?si=NUrhDfMAwaqQuAqu

Eye Protection

Hearing Protection

When working in loud areas, even for short durations, hearing protection is recommended. Most people know about both earmuffs and earplugs, which are available at most hardware and farm stores.  The goal of hearing protection is to reduce the sound level at the ear (inside the ear of the wearer) to below 85 dBA.  Visit our page here for specifics on hearing protection use, selection, and guidance.

Hand and Arm Protection

There is no ANSI standard for gloves like there are for eye and face protection.  When selecting gloves, it is important to understand the protection needed (physical abrasion, chemical protection) before selecting the right materials for use.  There are four main groups of gloves:

• • Work gloves made of leather, canvas, or metal mesh (not for chemical protection; mostly for heat or cut resistance)
  • Fabric and coated fabric gloves (again, not for chemical protection; mostly for dirt and slip-resistant protection)
  • Chemical- and liquid-resistant gloves (if chemical protection is needed)
  • Insulating rubber gloves (for electrical hazards)

The following need to be known to select the glove material for chemical-resistant gloves:

• • What is the chemical being handled? Review the Safety Data Sheet, particularly Section 1 for identification and Section 8 for PPE recommendations.
  • What is the nature of contact?  Will you have to contact the chemical to do the job, or are you protecting against splashes? Low likelihood of contact means we can use gloves that do not have to withstand hours of exposure, so long as we rinse or replace gloves that contact the chemical.
  • How long does the contact occur?  If tasks are short-term, you may want cheap disposable materials.  If tasks take a longer time, you may need more durable materials, particularly for chemical and abrasion hazards.
  • How much more than just the hand needs protection?  Do you just need the hand, or the hand and forearm, or do you need full arm protection? Again, the answer to this question requires knowledge of the task being performed.
  • What is the worker’s grip requirement?  Will the hand be mostly dry, or will it be wet or covered in oil?  A super thick glove will make it difficult to have a strong grip or do tasks requiring fine dexterity.  It is good to test out sample gloves for tasks to make sure grip is not sacrificed, which could lead to more hazardous situations (dropping chemicals, e.g.)
  • Do you need thermal protection?  Remember, for dispensing liquid propane, we need thermal protection.
  • What size and is it comfortable?  Always recommend trying out gloves to check fit and comfort.  Insights from others who conduct this task are also needed.  There are standard glove size calculators to help select sizes, such as here.
  • Does any of the tasks required when wearing a glove have abrasion as a risk?  If so, determine which materials seem better than others for abrasion.  For example, nitrile is better at not tearing compared to latex:  although a box of nitrile gloves costs a bit more per box than latex, people find nitrile more pleasing to wear and are more durable during many tasks, so long as the glove fits well.

The table below provides a general description of glove materials that are available on the market which will help you perform a first assessment of chemical resistance for the glove with chemicals it is being used for.  It is critical to confirm the chemical resistance for YOUR chemical with the GLOVE MANUFACTURER’s Data for the glove you purchase.  This table gives you a general place to start the selection process.

Table 1: General Glove Performance Information

See Table 4 in https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/osha3151.pdf for chemical-specific chemical resistance selection guidance for these four glove families, but then check with your glove manufacturer to confirm with their formulation.

For a motion graphic showing you a brief explanation of chemical glove use and care, please visit:  https://youtu.be/XO5V94Sx4c8?si=K7MqywCtduDsvcdw

Body Protection

There are some tasks that require protecting the body from additional hazards, including physical hazards (temperature, tools) and chemical hazards.  Selecting the material and body coverage needed based on the hazard that needs protection.  Body protection can include coveralls, vests, jackets, aprons, or full-body suits.  Here are some guidelines for material types:

Personal Fall Protection System

When working at heights, including any work inside a grain bin with any stored materials inside, a personal fall protection system is needed.  This system requires the person at risk of falling to wear equipment (harness, a lanyard that connects to the harness and an anchor point) and the structure to have sufficient anchorage (5000-pound force) to support the force of a falling worker and to successfully retrieve the person who may be engulfed.  On the farm, these systems are recommended for roof work, working at elevation, and when entering grain bins and manure pits.

Foot and Leg Protection

Additional foot/leg protection can include:

Respiratory Protection

Respirators should be selected based on the airborne hazard facing a worker.  To select the correct respirator, we need to know the hazard (what is the gas, vapor, dust), the concentration of the hazard in the environment, and the “safe level” of that contaminant, called the “Occupational Exposure Limit” or OEL.

Respirator Selection

From that information, you can determine the type of respirator based on how each of the following questions are answered:

• • Is there sufficient oxygen (19.5%) in the environment? To use an air-purifying respirator, there MUST be sufficient oxygen to breathe.
  • Is the concentration of the contaminant below the manufacturer’s maximum use concentration (MUC) of a respirator-cartridge combination? The respirator can be used safely only if the concentration in the air is LOWER than the manufacturer’s MUC.
  • If below the MUC, you select the simplest type of respirator based on whether it provides enough protection. To do this, calculate the Concentration / Assigned Protection Factors (set by OSHA) for the respirator you want to use.  If this ratio is below the OEL, you can use that TYPE of respirator.