Risk and exposure assessment for agricultural workers during treatment of cucumber with the fungicide fenarimol in greenhouses

The exposure pattern and potential risk of fenarimol emulsifiable concentrate to agricultural workers were investigated during the preparation of the pesticide suspension and the application of the prepared suspension to the cucumber in a greenhouse environment. The dermal exposure to fenarimol was 0.17 ± 0.11 mg (0.001 ± 0.001% of prepared active ingredient) for mixing/loading and 0.22 ± 0.15 mg (0.003 ± 0.002% of applied active ingredient) for application, respectively. The most exposed part of body was the hand (100%) during mixing/loading, whereas the primary sites during application were the back and legs. In particular, 54.8% of dermal exposure occurred on the shins. The inhalation exposure to fenarimol was detected as 3.7 ± 1.0 μg for the applicator. In comparison with the exposure patterns to pesticides for agricultural workers in greenhouse reported in previous studies, lower dermal and inhalation exposures to fenarimol were observed during mixing/loading and application, respectively. The results of the risk assessment demonstrated that the possibility of risk to fenarimol exposure was lowest during mixing/loading and application in the greenhouse environment.