Every day, agricultural workers, pesticide applicators, and pest control professionals handle chemical products designed to protect crops and control pests. While these products provide benefits for crop yield, pesticides can create potential health risks when coming into contact with skin. Protective clothing serves as a critical barrier, but not all materials offer the same level of protection against liquid pesticide formulations. ISO 22608:2021—Protective clothing – Protection against liquid chemicals – Measurement of repellency, retention, and penetration of liquid pesticide formulations through protective clothing materials establishes a standardized method for evaluating how protective clothing materials perform when exposed to liquid pesticides.
Importance of ISO 22608:2021 for Worker Protection
Farm workers, pesticide applicators, and crop protection specialists rely on protective clothing to reduce chemical exposure during pesticide handling and spraying activities. Even small amounts of liquid pesticide that penetrate protective clothing can increase the risk of skin exposure. When pesticides encounter skin, the primary risks range from immediate localized irritation to severe systemic poisoning.
ISO 22608:2021 provides manufacturers and safety professionals with a reliable method for evaluating the effectiveness of protective clothing materials against pesticide contamination.
What Is ISO 22608:2021?
ISO 22608:2021 is an international standard that specifies a test method to measure the repellency, retention, and penetration of a known volume of liquid pesticide when applied to a protective clothing material.
Repellency measures the percentage of liquid pesticide that remains on the surface and is shed from the material rather than being absorbed.
Retention measures the amount of pesticide liquid that remains trapped within the material after exposure.
Penetration measures the amount of pesticide that passes completely through the protective clothing material.
ISO 22608:2021 notes that the degree of contamination depends on numerous factors such as the type of exposure, application technique, and pesticide formulation. As the level of exposure can vary considerably, this method is designed to rate the relative performance of personal protective equipment (PPE) materials at two levels of contamination. This approach helps manufacturers, testing laboratories, regulators, and safety professionals better understand how materials may perform across a range of contamination scenarios.
Essentially, ISO 22608:2021 evaluates the fabric’s ability to repel liquids and prevent hazardous chemicals from penetrating the garment to the wearer’s skin.
Prevalence of Pesticides: Why Pesticide Protection Matters
About 1 billion pounds of conventional pesticides are used each year in the United States to control weeds, insects, and other pests. Agricultural workers can be exposed to these chemicals through mixing, loading, application, equipment maintenance, and contact with treated crops. Studies have shown that dermal (skin) exposure is often the primary route of occupational pesticide exposure, making protective clothing a critical component of worker safety programs.
Standards such as ISO 22608:2021 help manufacturers and safety professionals evaluate how well protective clothing materials resist liquid pesticide contamination and reduce the potential for chemical contact with the skin.
Where to Find ISO 22608:2021
ISO 22608:2021—Protective clothing – Protection against liquid chemicals – Measurement of repellency, retention, and penetration of liquid pesticide formulations through protective clothing materials is available on the ANSI Webstore.