Uruguay highlights Brazilian rural work safety program at symposium

The Uruguayan government body, INIA - Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuária, is holding this Thursday, 21st, the 1st Symposium on Good Practices in Aplicación de Phitossanitarios. On the occasion, Brazilian scientific researcher Hamilton Ramos presents, at the invitation of the meeting's organizers, the lecture Safety of the worker and Calidadity of personal protection equipment. He coordinates the IAC-Quepia Quality of Personal Protective Equipment in Agriculture program in Brazil.

Created 13 years ago, through a partnership between the private sector and the Engineering and Automation Center of the Agronomic Institute (CEA-IAC), an entity of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply of SP, Quepia had a decisive role in reducing, in Brazil, , the disapproval of protective clothing submitted to quality certifications. This rate, which was 80% in 2006, fell to 20% last year.

According to Ramos, Quepia continually studies operational conditions and the degree of exposure of rural workers to agrochemicals. The program, according to the researcher, investigates quality standards of raw materials used in the manufacture of protective clothing and grants a quality seal to manufacturers whose products pass specific tests.

“We use our own methodologies and international ISO standards to ensure that the clothing given to the worker reduces their exposure to chemical active ingredients. The Quepia Seal has become a national reference”, says Ramos.

Ramos adds that although he still considers the current level of clothing disapproval in the country to be high, at around 20%, Brazil has produced a success story in this area, “especially due to the size of its agricultural frontier in comparison to other countries”. “Today, countries such as Chile, Belgium, France and Japan have sought out our team to exchange information on measures to protect rural work”, concludes Hamilton Ramos.

According to the organizers of the symposium, more than 150 people should participate in the meeting, including researchers, scientists, academics and representatives of Uruguayan government bodies in the agricultural area.