*5.1. Preliminary Assessment*

The typical pathologies that can affect the olive trees and their fruits in the area where the company's fields are located (middle part of Italy) are the olive fly (*Bactrocera* or *Dacus oleae*) and the so-called "olive peacock spot" (*Spilocaea oleaginea*), which are quite common in olive cultivation [85]. More in detail, considering the number and the dimensions of the trees, as well as the characteristics of the field, the following products are used by the company:

• Product "A" against the "olive fly": a synthetic pyrethroid is used, whose active principle is based on the presence of deltamethrin (whose concentration derived from the SDS is 1.51 %). As far as the quantity of product is concerned, the use of 0.9 L of pesticide was estimated for 1000 L of water (i.e., the company uses 0.45 L of product A per hectare). The re-entry time is fixed in 3 days after the treatment.

• Product "B" against the "olive peacock spot": a copper compound is used, i.e., a tribasic copper sulfate (whose concentration derived from the SDS is 24%). The needed quantity was estimated in 3.0 L per 1000 L of water (i.e., the company uses 1.5 L of product B per hectare). The re-entry time is fixed in 20 days after the treatment.

The sprayer used for the application is a tractor-mounted mist blower for medium volume air treatment with a capacity of 500 L. Thus in both cases it has to be used twice. The tractor is equipped with a non air-conditioned cabin. As far as the treatments' schedule is concerned, both of them are applied in a 1 day working shift.

All the requisites of the conformity checklist (Appendix A) were verified positively: in particular, the three operators attended the specific training, holding the certificate of competence as professional pesticide users. One of them has 1 year of experience, while the other two have more than 5 years. Hence, in the assessment the case of the first one is considered. The PPE was considered adequate to the type of substances used and resulted in good condition.

#### *5.2. Evaluation of the Possible Exposure Level*

Two different assessments were done, for each of the two products used by the company. In particular, the evaluation of the possible exposure level related to both the product "A" and "B" are summarized in Table 12. In detail, for both products the scoring related to the considered surface (SURF) is equal to 0.5 (as per values indicated in Table 4), while for the estimation of DOSE we assumed that the specific weight of the formulation is roughly that of water (1 L = 1 kg). Then, following the criteria exposed in Table 4, in both cases the DOSE = 2.


**Table 12.** Scores related to the calculation of the possible exposure level.

Based on the criteria exposed in Table 8, both the potential exposure levels can be ascribed as belonging the level 1, i.e., "very low level of possible exposure". It has to be noted that in both cases the re-entry activities were considered only once, when the operator has to refill the sprayer's tank.

#### *5.3. Evaluation of the Toxicity Level*

The analysis of the toxicity level of the pesticides used by the company is carried out based on the information provided in their safety sheets (Table 13).


**Table 13.** Evaluation of the Toxicity Index of both products.

#### *5.4. Evaluation of the Risk Level*

Combining the possible exposure level and the toxicity level as per Equation (3), the exposure risk level (RE) for both products was estimated (Table 14).

**Table 14.** Scores related to the calculation of the exposure risk.


#### *5.5. Improvement Options*

While the risk level when using the product "A" resulted "acceptable" and no further interventions are required, in the case of "B" the risk level is higher mainly due to the limited experience of the younger operator. For this reason, additional training activities were foreseen, and the company decided to assign the application of "B" only to the two more experienced operators. Consequently, the risk index was reduced to RE = 10.18, reaching the level of acceptability. A further improvement could be achieved providing a proper route in the orchard in order to avoid or reduce the exposure time during the re-entry when the refill of the sprayer is needed.

#### **6. Discussion**

The results achieved were considered positively by the company since our approach allowed them to perform a complete analysis, updating their risk assessment documents in a user-friendly manner. Moreover, the checklist for the preliminary assessment was considered a useful tool for monitoring the proper application of safety procedures.

From a more general perspective, the problem of providing tools that allow the estimation of the risk of the exposure to pesticides, contributing to the definition of exposure limits and to the prevention of the toxic effects on workers is widely discussed in the literature [1,67,81]. As a matter of facts, the risk assessment related to the exposure to pesticides presents numerous variables, making it a more complex task than when dealing with other types of hazards agricultural workers are exposed to [28]. In such a context, the definition of a tool aimed at supporting safety managers in the documented preliminary risk assessment of working activities related to the use of pesticides represents a narrow aspect of the problem, although the relevant impact it might have on the practical needs of companies. In such a research niche, the present study can be considered a first attempt of merging all the mandatory issues related to the use of pesticides in an easy-to-use procedure for the correct implementation of OHS risk assessment activities.

In particular, our study is based on the results achieved in the epidemiological literature, together with the provisions of technical guidelines and the experts' opinions, translating them in an OHS context. This result is in line with the research hints provided by Lichtenberg et al. [41] and Damalas and Koutroubas [29]. To the authors' knowledge this represents a novelty in context of the OHS literature.

The proposed algorithm constitutes a basis for a simplified risk assessment procedure for the pesticides' use and its implementation in a knowledge management system for risk assessment activities [86] is currently being considered, as well as its implementation in an OHS management system.

In addition, the current paper also aims at increasing the knowledge on the safe use pesticides. Such a result, in line with the practical needs highlighted by Rijal et al. [87], provides a general framework that integrates different disciplines and stakeholders.

Moreover, although the proposed approach is based on the requirements of the Italian legislation, its general framework could be extended to other national contexts easily. As a matter of fact, the preliminary characterization of exposure levels scenarios allows safety managers to better define the potential damage and the evolution of hazard's scenarios [88], supporting both the entrepreneur and the appointed physicians in effectively perform the workers' health surveillance (WHS) that is mandatory in an OHS context in the EU countries [89].

Thanks to its simplicity and its task-based approach, the proposed methodology can be used also as a reference framework to augment the operators' knowledge and awareness on a safe behavior, allowing the increase of all safety aspects within the company [90].

Beside these positive aspects, the study limitations have to be addressed as well. From a practical point of view, we have to consider that the selection of the types of toxicity listed in Table 9 cannot be considered exhaustive and a further analysis of possible toxicity typologies that can be found in the pesticides available on the market nowadays should be carried out. The whole approach of using hazard statements as a proxy of toxicity of substances needs validation, but any improvement in this aspect would easily be implemented in the proposed method. It has to be noted that in the present study the hazard statements related to the toxicity for the environment were not taken into account. For instance, for both product "A" and "B" the statement H400 (very toxic to aquatic life) was listed in the safety sheets. Since environmental concerns were not an objective of this study, an augmented approach considering also these issues could be beneficial for a more holistic risk assessment. In such a context, also the equipment's cleaning operations should be included.

Furthermore, we also need to underline that improved solutions such as the so-called mass trapping systems and bait sprays for the prevention of the olive fly were not considered in the study, since the proper use of such solutions to define the reduction of pesticide use quantitatively requires an expert's analysis, which was not available when the case study was carried out. Nevertheless, we are aware that the implementation and promotion of eco-friendlier solutions to replace the use of hazardous substances is an important issue that needs to be investigated largely, as stressed by Damalas and Koutroubas [91].

From a scientific perspective, the proposed approach needs validation, which should be carried out by the parallel use of the proposed approach and environmental or biological monitoring to verify the effectiveness of the proposed factors and weights. This can be beneficial for a more accurate definition of the different weights' ranges used for the computation of the various factors. Finally, the type of results achieved through a single case-study as a research tool can be considered exploratory and used to define new research questions and new understandings [92,93], but the findings' external

validity is limited by the sample concerned [94]. Accordingly, the application to different case studies concerning other types of cultivations and hence of pesticides is necessary.

#### **7. Conclusions**

The paper illustrates a procedure for the risk assessment of activities related to the application of pesticides, addressing the needs of farmers in complying with the recent legislative issues. This approach is based on studies concerning the application of the AHS algorithm and the related literature review [54,64,73]; through the integration of their findings with the provisions of technical guidelines and experts' opinion, a preliminary risk assessment framework that can be used at a practical level to comply with the OHS legislation was defined.

The merit of this paper consists in the overall development of a tool for the preliminary risk assessment, providing a simplified approach for its practical application. Our algorithm aims at evaluating all the parameters that might influence the exposure to pesticides, providing a qualitative result thorough the evaluation of a realistic situation. This supports the findings of Acquavella et al. [95], highlighting the limitations of the risk assessment approaches based on passive dosimetry in evaluating individual exposure situations effectively.

This study is at an initial step of implementation and the validation of the proposed approach through biological monitoring is already planned. Thus, researchers and practitioners are also invited to contribute to its further development.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, M.F., M.L., D.P., L.C., S.M-R., and C.C.; methodology, M.F., M.L., D.P., L.C., S.M-R., and C.C..; case study, M.F., M.L., D.P., L.C., E.M., S.M-R., and C.C.; writing—review and editing, M.F., M.L., D.P., S.M-R., and C.C.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** We wish to thank Marco Zeoli, Eng. MD for the support in the case study development.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

#### **Appendix A**

The appendix contains an excerpt of the preliminary conformity checklist.


