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Horticulture Chemicals in NZ: What You’re Spraying, What It Does, and What WorkSafe Expects You to Control

The Chemical Backbone of Modern Horticulture

Horticulture looks green and gentle from the roadside. Under the canopy, it is chemistry at work.

Fungicides keep fruit clean.
Insecticides hold back outbreaks.
Herbicides stop weeds stealing water and nutrients.

Without them, crops fail. With them, risk arrives.

Not the theatrical kind of risk – the quiet kind. Vapours in lungs. Droplets on skin. Residues in soil. Drift in the wind. Runoff in the drains. And under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and the Hazardous Substances (HSNO) Regulations, every one of those pathways carries legal weight.

The issue is not that these substances are dangerous.
The issue is that they are powerful, routine, and often taken for granted.

The Three Chemical Pillars of Horticulture

1. Fungicides

Used to control:

  • Powdery mildew

  • Botrytis

  • Black spot

  • Rusts

  • Downy mildew

  • Storage rots

Common groups:

  • Triazoles

  • Strobilurins

  • Copper compounds

  • Sulphur

  • Dithiocarbamates

Risks:

  • Respiratory irritation

  • Skin sensitisation

  • Chronic exposure effects

  • Aquatic toxicity

Compliance requirements:

  • SDS access at point of use

  • Respiratory protection for mist and vapour

  • Re-entry interval controls

  • Spray drift management

  • Environmental protection of waterways

  • Training in mixing and calibration

2. Insecticides

Used to control:

  • Aphids

  • Thrips

  • Mites

  • Leafrollers

  • Mealybugs

  • Codling moth

Common classes:

  • Organophosphates

  • Pyrethroids

  • Neonicotinoids

  • Carbamates

  • Biological insecticides

Risks:

  • Acute poisoning

  • Nervous system effects

  • Skin absorption

  • Pollinator toxicity

  • Residues on produce

WorkSafe and HSNO controls:

  • Certified handler or GROWSAFE training

  • PPE matched to formulation (gloves, respirators, coveralls, eye protection)

  • Restricted entry intervals

  • Secure locked storage

  • Separation from fertilisers and fuels

  • Emergency eyewash and spill response

3. Herbicides

Used for:

  • Weed suppression

  • Crop establishment

  • Inter-row control

  • Orchard and vineyard floor management

Common types:

  • Glyphosate

  • Phenoxy herbicides

  • Residual soil herbicides

  • Contact desiccants

Risks:

  • Operator exposure

  • Spray drift to neighbours and sensitive crops

  • Groundwater contamination

  • Chronic health effects

  • Environmental persistence

Compliance controls:

  • Drift control technology

  • Weather and wind monitoring

  • Buffer zones

  • Spray plans and records

  • Chemical segregation

  • Training and supervision

The Compliance Framework Growers Must Meet

Under HSWA 2015, HSNO, and WorkSafe NZ guidance, horticulture operations must be able to show:

  1. A current Hazardous Substance Register

  2. Up-to-date Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for every product

  3. Correct storage, segregation, and bunding

  4. GROWSAFE or Certified Handler competence where required

  5. Appropriate PPE and respiratory protection

  6. Spray drift and environmental controls

  7. Emergency response and spill plans

  8. Exposure and health monitoring (where required)

  9. Training records and supervision systems

  10. Audit-ready documentation for WorkSafe, councils, and GLOBALG.A.P. style schemes

Failure to control any of these can trigger improvement notices, prohibition notices, prosecution, insurance refusal, and processor non-compliance.

The Silent Legacy Risk: Asbestos on Horticulture Sites

Many packhouses, coolstores, pump sheds, and older glasshouse structures still contain:

  • Asbestos roofing

  • Asbestos wall cladding

  • Asbestos soffits

  • Asbestos fencing

When altered, cut, or demolished, asbestos becomes a regulated hazardous substance under the Asbestos Regulations 2016.

Licensed Class B removalists such as PropertyHelp Ltd manage this risk so that redevelopment, expansion, and compliance upgrades do not leave behind permanent contamination.

Where ChemMatrix Fits

ChemMatrix – the HSNO compliance platform reducing farm injury, environmental harm, and regulatory burden – is designed to give horticulture businesses one integrated system to manage:

  • Digital hazardous substance registers

  • SDS libraries linked to each chemical

  • Storage and segregation compliance

  • PPE and training matrices

  • Spray plan and re-entry tracking

  • Emergency and spill response procedures

  • Environmental risk controls

  • Asbestos awareness and management

  • WorkSafe and GLOBALG.A.P. audit-ready reports

Instead of folders, memory, and disconnected spreadsheets, ChemMatrix provides a live compliance engine.

Final Word

Horticulture is precision farming.
Its chemicals are precision tools.
And precision without control becomes exposure.

The future of growing is not just about yield and quality.
It is about demonstrating, clearly and defensibly, that hazardous substances are:

  • Understood

  • Contained

  • Controlled

  • Tracked

  • Trained for

  • Environmentally managed

Compliance is no longer an afterthought.
It is part of the crop system.

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