Physico-chemical characterisation of surface defects on chemically protective gloves used in agriculture

Australian agriculture is largely dependent on the use of pesticides. Many pesticides have detrimental effects on human health, and consequently occupational exposure presents a serious problem. Pesticide application can be dangerous work and farmers rely on chemical protective clothing to provide a bather to dermal exposure. Hands are one of the most often contaminated anatomical sites and therefore gloves are perhaps the most important item of protective apparel. The principal objective of this thesis is to ascertain the types of chemically protective gloves that are used in agriculture, and to determine if these gloves are suitable for effective protection against chemical exposure to farmers. The hypothesis that evolved from this objective is: That, due to poor quality control, no protocols in glove care and patchy promotion of their usage, I predict that chemically protective gloves are inadequate for farmers' needs. The aims that have evolved from the hypothesis are: 1. to find out what types of protective gloves are being worn by farmers during pesticide application, and to determine the condition, age and maintenance regime of these gloves; 2. to identify and classify the microscopic physical surface defects that occur in new and used gloves and those exposed to simulated field conditions and to compare them statistically; 3. to compare the surface chemical composition of new gloves, used gloves and those subjected to simulated field exposure; 4. to determine if gloves used by farmers are suitable for use in the outdoor environment; and 5. to describe the progress of degradation in gloves exposed to the outdoors to determine their suitability for use outdoors and their life expectancy. The sampling area was restricted to Tasmania, and although this state is not completely representative of the whole of Australian agriculture, it nevertheless encompasses a wide variety of agricultural production.