RR498 - Development of a modelling for pesticide spray drift

Phase 1: Data gathering and feasibility testing

The project was originally conceived as having four phases and this document reports on phase 1. Work on phase 2 has commenced but phases 3 and 4 are presently in abeyance whilst work of a complimentary nature is being taken forward by others in response to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution report "Crop spraying and the health of residents and bystanders" (RCP, 2005).

The overall aim of the HSE project was to develop a robust computational modelling tool that would (a) assist HSE/FOD staff with the investigation of pesticide spraydrift incidents and (b) support enforcement action.

It was envisaged that the model would have been capable of working in two ways after an event:

• to predict spraydrift patterns using data on operating conditions obtained during the investigation; and
• to predict operating parameters or incident scenarios using deposition data obtained from samples of soil, vegetation or water taken from the investigation site.

In the latter case, any information on operating parameters obtained from the investigation would have facilitated the model and would have improved its accuracy and reliability.

was anticipated that, if successfully developed, the tool would have been laptop based enabling HSE inspectors or Field Scientists to rapidly and consistently gather information and respond to complaints.

Visit the RR498 report (PDF) ^[12]

This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.

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