The majority of employees in a variety of industries are required to wear protective gloves to prevent injury on the job.
Gloves act as a kind of second skin for these employees, enabling them to handle dangerous substances, chemicals, and instruments without sacrificing the dexterity required to accomplish their jobs competently.
Gloves, however, are not a generic item like all other safety gear. To ensure worker safety, it is essential that they are outfitted with the proper gloves for the tasks at hand and any potential dangers.
The best safety glove selection depends on a variety of things. The glove’s construction material and the level of protection it offers, however, are undoubtedly the most crucial factors.
To assist you in selecting the safety glove that best suits your needs, this article will discuss 12 popular safety glove kinds.
What requirements does OSHA have for hand protection?
Adequate hand protection gloves should be used. Employers are responsible for providing the PPE necessary for employees to safely perform their duties.
Naturally, this also entails keeping on hand every kind of glove required to safeguard each employee’s hands.
What types of hand protective gloves are available?
Fabric or Cotton Gloves
The worker wears these gloves to create a thin, permeable barrier between their skin and the objects they are touching.
Fabric gloves offer only rudimentary defense against hot surfaces, jagged objects, open flames, and puncture dangers.
They can, however, help to avoid minor abrasions and scratches by keeping hands clean.
To give more warmth, fabric gloves are occasionally used as liners inside bigger safety gloves.
Coated Fabric Gloves
In comparison to fabric gloves, these all-purpose gloves provide better chemical resistance, increased cut and puncture resistance, and defense against the alkalinity of concrete products.
Many different materials, including latex, nitrile, polyurethane, and PVC, can be used to create the coatings.
A risk assessment can be used to identify the best coating for a particular work.
Despite the widespread use of this design of gloves, some coatings are known to lose flexibility in cooler work environments.
Additionally, they offer less insulation than uncoated gloves do.
Furthermore, while coated fabric gloves do provide some degree of chemical resistance, they should not be used in place of a glove made specifically for handling chemicals.
Latex and Nitrile Gloves
In hospitals and laboratories, latex and nitrile gloves are frequently used because they offer protection from:
Biohazards
Oils
Solvents
Grease
Chemicals
When the proper size is used, these gloves are form-fitting, enhancing dexterity for handling small objects and doing precise work.
However, latex and nitrile gloves don’t offer enough defense against piercings or sharp, abrasive surfaces.
Leather Gloves
Good grip, spark resistance, and defense against jagged or abrasive surfaces are all features of leather gloves.
Additionally, they shield the wearer from mild heat sources like welding heat or friction heat from a rope sliding across the palms.
When properly cared for, leather gloves are very durable, but excessive heat can cause them to harden or shrivel.
When they are not worn with a liner, they can also cause hands to get dry.
Aluminized Gloves
Gloves made of aluminum are designed to withstand heat. They are appropriate for use in laboratories with high-heat ovens, furnace and foundry work, and welding activities.
They can defend against heat up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit because of their insulating and reflecting qualities.
Kovar gloves
Kevlar is a heat-resistant para-aramid synthetic fiber that gets its strength from a complex chemical structure with many inter-chain linkages.
This material has had a significant impact on industrial hand protection because it makes it possible to produce gloves that are light and strong but also remarkably resistant to cuts and abrasions.
A cut-resistant liner made of kevlar is also used for some additional gloves.
Puncture-Resistant Gloves
These gloves can be made of Kevlar braid or gloves designed to resemble fish skin.
In order to prevent penetration from needles, shards, and other puncture dangers, the latter uses a scale- or flake-like structure.
Impact-Resistant and Vibration-Resistant Gloves
Even though extended exposure to vibrations can be harmful, they may initially seem harmless.
The requirement for worker protection from hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) and its increasing awareness among safety professionals.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is used to provide some of such protection. Particularly, gloves that lessen the exposure of the hand to vibrations and cushion impact.
Workers can use vibration-resistant gloves to protect their hands when frequently using the grinder during the shift.
They are also used in the automotive and construction sectors, where pneumatic instruments like jackhammers may be operated continuously.
Chemical and Liquid-Resistant Gloves
Serious immediate or long-term health problems might result from chemical absorption through the skin.
You can determine the appropriate amount of protection necessary to keep workers safe when handling chemical products by consulting the safety data sheet (SDS) for that product.
What is the material for making protective gloves?
Butyl rubber: This is often utilized when employees will be in close proximity to chemicals for a lengthy period of time.
Additionally, they provide resistance to permeability by steam and water.
Additionally, butyl rubber is employed as a barrier against substances including alcohols, esters, and ketones.
+Acid nitric in alkali
+Acid sulfuric
+Acid hydrochloric
Peroxide
Natural rubber and latex
Gloves made of latex and rubber are designed for accidental contact scenarios.
They are appropriate for biological risks and beverages that contain water.
Neoprene: Utilized frequently in settings involving prolonged contact with things like:
Acids
Bases
Alcohols
Fuels
Peroxides
Hydrocarbons
hydraulic liquids
Gasoline
Biological acids
Nylar Rubber: General purpose, general purpose gloves made of nitrile rubber that can be used for incidental contact (such as disposable test gloves).
When prolonged contact is intended, thicker nitrile gloves are used.
Wearers of nitrile gloves can avoid being exposed to:
Solvents
Petroleum products
Gasoline
Greases
A few bases and acids
Criteria for selecting safety gloves
An evaluation of the unique dangers and hazards the user is likely to experience is the first step in choosing the best glove for the task. This includes seemingly small injuries because even a scrape or cut might result in an infection that necessitates medical attention and time off work.
Additional factors include:
Small gloves may tear, but oversized gloves may impair dexterity.
Dexterity versus protection: You must decide how to prioritize these two factors when a trade-off between them is occasionally inevitable.
Protection levels: There are several levels of protection that gloves provide against a particular hazard, so you must make sure that the glove fulfills the standard for the task.
Check gloves often for symptoms of physical wear and tear, such as tears, discoloration, or swelling.
Never use a safety glove after it has passed its expiration date.
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