Manual for inspection of sprayers in use and PRITEAF, dedicated software for inspection of sprayers: success tools developed for the inspector’s training process in Spain

Software dedicated to inspection of sprayers in use has been developed with the aim to facilitate the accomplishment of the mandatory requirements from EU Directive for a Sustainable Use of Pesticides, specifically those concerning the inspection of sprayers in use. The software- PRITEAF- has been developed according to the European standards EN 13790 concerning mandatory inspection of sprayers in use and it is ready to be used not only for inspectors among all the EU members but also for training purposes all over the world. The software is ready to be on line –after minor arrangements - with the recently approved new international inspection standards ISO 16122, and its main features are: to facilitate the sprayer’s inspection procedure, to manage, storage and transfer all the information to the official bodies in charge of the procedure, and to be used as a support tool to improve the training activities during the process, according the European Directive 2009/128/CE for a Sustainable Use of Pesticides. For this purpose, PRITEAF has been designed for three different types of users: inspection teams, inspection workshops and regional authorities. PRITEAF has been developed using the File Maker Pro package and it is composed of three databases – inspections activities, database on sprayers already inspected, and owners or official responsible for the agricultural activity. The software is completed with specific modules for data acquisition and for generating official reports, files and communications. For its implementation, PRITEAF uses specific hardware (a PC server, a tablet and local Wi-Fi) necessary to ensure proper data collection in the field. After data collection, the software generates an official inspection report and an inspection certificate, as required by law. Using PRITEAF reduces inspection time by 33% compared to traditional sprayer inspection systems. Following its validation, PRITEAF has been made available to regional authorities and inspection workshops across Spain, and is also being used to train all inspection teams in the country. More than 800 inspectors have been officially trained using the developed software, resulting in an interesting tool to improve the daily activities to be executed in all the inspection’s workshops in Europe.