9 July 1998

Media Release
Farm and Rural Media

Check dip diary to avoid residues

Shearing contractors should insist on seeing the grower’s dip diary before starting work, to ensure shearer safety.

WoolPro technical manager Stuart Edwards says it’s important that at least 60 days has elapsed between dipping and shearing.

“This, combined with good personal hygiene, will minimise the exposure of shearers and woolhandlers to chemical residues in wool,” he said.

“The concentration of sheep dip residues in wool will have reduced to safe levels over a 60-day withholding period.

“As long as farmers observe this, or the manufacturer’s recommended withholding periods, the risk of absorption for shearers and woolhandlers is very much reduced,” added Mr Edwards.

“Also, dipping chemicals tend to associate with the grease in the wool, and it has been shown wool grease slows down the absorption of dip chemicals.

“At the same time, shearers and handlers should not be complacent, because the risk can increase with prolonged exposure. This can happen, for example, by wearing dip-saturated clothing all day in hot weather.”

This highlights the importance of taking protective measures when shearing and handling wool, said Mr Edwards.

“In this regard, the view of the Occupational Safety and Health Service is that it is the contractor’s responsibility to ensure the safety of their shearers’ work conditions and practices.”

To minimise the risk of absorption of dip chemicals, Mr Edwards suggests shearers and handlers should observe some minimum recommendations:

• Wear protective gloves
• Treat sheep in the yards
• Wash your face and hands with hot soapy water before eating
• Wash clothing that is in contact with your skin daily, using a hot wash
• Take extra care with animals that have had spot treatments applied to fly strike areas within the withholding periods. Spot treatment solutions contain high concentrations of dip chemicals.
• Don’t apply spot treatments on the shearing boards. The board will become slippery, increasing the risk of injury.
• Ask the farmer to draft off animals that have been spot treated. These should be shorn at the end of the contract, when more care can be taken to minimise contact.

“Contractors should also make a practice of checking the farmer’s dip diary to ensure that dipping was carried out outside the withholding periods,” said Mr Edwards.

Mr Edwards emphasised that there have been no reported cases in New Zealand of sheep dip poisoning in shearers or woolhandlers. While there have been cases reported in Australia, most of these resulted from spot treatments to cut or flyblown animals.

The main risk of exposure to dipping chemicals is during application, and dip manufacturers are required to specify the protective measures that need to be taken at this time.

The recommended 60-day withholding period has been accepted by dip manufacturers, who specify this period for their products. WoolPro’s predecessor company, Wools of NZ, included this recommendation in its “Operation Clean Fleece” and “Fly By Jet” campaigns.

These campaigns are targeted at dip applicators, and aim to reduce residues to an internationally accepted level of five parts per million. This not only reduces the risk to shearers, but also minimises the level of chemicals in processing effluent.

WoolPro is one of the revamped Wool Group’s new subsidiary companies. As part of its brief to bring technology to the farm, it runs training programmes for shearers and woolhandlers, which include recommendations for safe wool handling.

[ends]

For more information on effective fly and lice control without excess residues, contact: Stuart Edwards, Freephone 0800 4 Meat & Wool Innovation (0800 496 657).