Improvement in operator safety for low- and middle-income countries: A user-friendly, consistent risk assessment and mitigation process

Abstract Ensuring operator safety when handling and applying chemical pesticides is an important aspect of pesticide registration. A risk-based approach to assess if operators can safely apply a pesticide product is usually conducted in countries with a regulatory infrastructure to support the relatively complex process for risk assessment. However, most low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) have limited expertise and/or resources for conducting sophisticated operator risk assessments. The FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit was developed to support regulators from countries with limited resources to conduct operator risk assessments for national/regional pesticide registration processes. The two operator exposure models referenced in the FAO toolkit for agricultural use, based primarily on studies conducted in Europe and the United States, focus more on mechanical-assisted spray equipment prevalent in those regions. The models for hand-held application technology are based on a rather limited dataset. The applicability of the models for scenarios prevalent in the country and complexity of the risk assessment process are the two key challenges LMIC countries face in using the models referenced in the toolkit. A global initiative that builds on existing expertise and available studies is underway to develop a global database and operator exposure model for handheld application scenarios prevalent in most LMICs. The goal is to develop a user-friendly risk assessment and mitigation tool to be proposed for inclusion in the FAO toolkit. This article provides a brief overview of risk assessment and examines factors that contribute to the accuracy and consistency of exposure models and risk mitigation measures to ensure operator safety. It also proposes suggestions that can serve as the basis for a user-friendly risk assessment and risk mitigation tool based on a global database for handheld applications