Identifying why a glove is necessary

There are two reasons why a glove might be necessary:

• To protect the hands against the product – In this category we have chemical resistant gloves, cut resistant gloves or anti-vibration gloves. The basic nature of this assessment says that the product that we are handling has the potential to cause injury, and that we need the glove to protect us against this potential

• To protect the product against the hands – Many products in industrial use can readily be contaminated by oils and particles that are on the hands, for example, circuit boards or patients in an operating theatre

Another often ignored piece of common sense is to make sure the glove material you choose protects against the exact substances being handled. Glove manufacturers usually produce charts to show how well their gloves perform against different substances. Manufacturers use three key terms:

• Breakthrough time is the time a chemical takes to permeate through the glove material and reach the inside. Permeation is a process by which a chemical can pass through a material without going through pin holes or pores or other visible openings. This tells you how long you can use a glove for

• The permeation rate is the amount that then permeates through. The higher the rate the more of the chemical will move through the glove. Choose a low rate

• Some chemicals can destroy the glove material. It may get harder, softer or may swell. Degradation indicates the deterioration of the glove material on contact with a specific chemical. Choose gloves with an excellent or good degradation rating

The performance of glove materials can vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer; ensure your own safety by closely following the data supplied by the manufacturer while considering your glove selection. Keep in mind that the manufacturers’ data is for pure chemicals, not mixtures.?When you mix chemicals, their properties can change.