Storing and handling crop protection products safely

Keep products in their original containers with the label intact. Decanting into a water bottle or an unlabelled can is the single most dangerous thing done with these products, and it is how most household poisonings occur.

Store in a dry, shaded, locked place, away from food, animal feed, drinking water and — above all — out of reach of children. Do not store spray equipment or opened containers inside the house.

Use the protective equipment named on the label: full sleeves, gloves, footwear, eye protection and a mask where required. Spray with the wind at your back, never against it, and never in the hottest part of the day. Do not eat, drink or smoke while spraying, and wash thoroughly afterwards, including the clothes you wore.

Triple-rinse empty containers, add the rinse water to the spray tank, then puncture the container so it cannot be reused and dispose of it as the label directs. Never reuse an empty container for anything, and never wash equipment in a pond, canal or stream that people or animals drink from.