On July 1, California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) put into place a number of new rules for Personal Protective Equipment for pesticide handlers. DPR states that the "regulatory action clarifies the personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements, reducing ambiguity, and reorganizes the regulatory requirements in a more logically cohesive format." The two main areas of focus are on eye protection and gloves.

Eye Protection

In the adoption of CCR 6738.2, DPR clarifies what is acceptable eye protection by implementing a Federal standard as its standard. This requirement, ANSI Z87.1 (American National Standards Institute), is recognized as the authority on eye protection.

For California, that means if eye wear is required, but no type is specified on the label, whether safety glasses, goggles, or face shield, they are to be marked with Z87.1 or just Z87. Most eye glasses have been designed and manufactured to meet this standard and have a Z87 mark on the frame and/or the lenses. Employers still need to make sure glasses fit employees properly.

Gloves

In regards to gloves, DPR wanted to be aligned with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines. There are three main changes through the adoption of CCR section 6738.3.

1) Glove Liners: DPR’s new rule now allows the use of "separable" glove liners under chemical resistant gloves. These liners are separate gloves. The use of lined for flocked gloves in still prohibited. These liners are to be made of cotton or other absorbent materials and cannot stick out past the end of the chemical resistant glove. The liners are to be disposed of at the end of each day or immediately removed and thrown away if they come into contact with any pesticide

The use of these liners is believed to encourage employees to wear their chemical resistant gloves in either the heat, when hands get sweaty, or the cold to add a layer of insulation.

 2) When chemical resistant gloves are used to make fine adjustments to equipment or other activities requiring high dexterity and motor control not offered by thicker gloves, thinner gloves such as nitrile gloves may be used. These gloves must be compliant with the pesticide used and can only be used for a maximum of 15 minutes after which they must be discarded and not reused.

14 Mil or thicker gloves must still be used for normal handling activities.

 3) DPR has developed a Glove Category Selection Key. There are categories from A-H listing what gloves materials offering the greatest level of chemical resistance to those materials used in that pesticide formulation. The categories are based on the solvents used in the pesticides, NOT the pesticides themselves. If the barrier material is specified by category on the product label, the required glove must be used as specified in the chart.

There may be instances where the same pesticide has two different formulations (wettable powder vs. an emulsifiable concentrate) that may require a different glove material for each formulation.

A Glove Category Selection Key card can be obtained from your local ag commissioner or by contacting the DPR, Worker Health and Safety Branch, Industrial Hygiene Services at 916-445-4211.

You can also look at the following links for charts and other information:

http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/whs/pdf/glove_card.pdf

http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/legbills/calcode/030302.htm

The below link has a list of solvent (chemical or trade name) along with what category it is in on page 11:

http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-07/documents/chapter10-final-fd-jr.pdf