Fits Like a Glove

Gloves were invented as far back as ancient Egypt, they had no thumb or finger holes but looked more like a pocket, they were used to protect the hands of noble women and were also used as a status symbol by the Pharaohs.


The pocket like glove then evolved into what we would consider a mitten (with a thumb hole.)

Gloves with fingers made from silk were later used as a status symbol of the rich and powerful. They were used to protect hands and keep them soft and were also used when eating to stop the hands from getting dirty.

Today gloves are used for a variety of reasons and within Health and Safety law they come under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992.

Most health and safety professionals recognize that personal protective equipment (PPE), i.e. gloves, should always be used as a last resort if you follow the general principles of prevention set out in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (Schedule 1), however, personal protective equipment plays an important role in employee health and safety. The most effective and reliable way to prevent skin problems is to design and operate processes to avoid contact with harmful substances. So, take all the steps you can to achieve this before resorting to the use of protective gloves.




The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 set out when and how protective equipment should be provided and has regulations detailing the requirement for the compatibility of the equipment. Under Regulation 6, an assessment should always be made where personal protective equipment is proposed to be used to ensure that it is adequate for the intended use.

It is common to see circumstances where gloves are required, that the cheapest or most attractive gloves are purchased with little consideration of their suitability for the task.

Gloves may be needed for protection against a number of hazards including mechanical risks, heat or cold, chemical or biological risks, and fire or electrical risks.

Gloves for Harmful Substances


Gloves used as PPE tend to be less effective than other control measures, but if avoiding contact is not practical or is not enough to protect your employees, then gloves may be needed. When an employer selects protective gloves, they should base their choice on the work, the wearer and the environment they work in. Employers need to consider the following five things:

• What substances are handled?
• What other hazards are present?
• Think about the type and duration of contact
• Consider the user – size and comfort
• Consider the task

What Substances are Handled?


The wide range of gloves available differ in design, material and thickness. In terms of chemicals, no glove material will protect against all substances and no gloves will protect against a specific substance forever.

Waterproof Gloves/’Wet Work’


If you do the washing up, you may know that prolonged or frequent contact with water, particularly in combination with soaps and detergents, can cause dermatitis. ‘Wet work’ is the term used to describe tasks in the workplace that can cause this. To protect the hands from ‘wet work’ choose a glove that meets the European Standard EN374-2. This shows that the gloves are waterproof.

Substances in products, created by work processes and ‘natural’ substances.

Substances in Products


Some products contain substances that can harm the skin or enter the body through skin contact. The product label or safety data sheet (SDS) should tell you if this is the case (such as those above). The Safety Data sheet should also give information on what protective gloves to use. If this is not detailed, then you should contact the product supplier or manufacturer for help.

Produced and ‘Natural’ Substances


Not all harmful substances come in labelled packaging. Harmful substances are also generated by work activities (e.g. solder fumes and wood dust). Also, handling some ‘natural’ substances like foods and flowers can cause skin problems too. You should carry out a COSHH assessment for all these activities. (COSHH is the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and these regulations require a risk assessment before working with hazardous substances). If you are unsure if a substance produced by a work process or a natural substance you are handling is harmful, you can get help from a variety of sources, such as trade associations or the HSE website.

To protect hands from substances/chemicals choose a glove that meets the European Standard EN374-3. Make sure the glove material you choose protects against the substances being handled.

Charts are provided by glove manufacturers to show how well their gloves perform against different substances. Glove manufacturers use three key terms, breakthrough time, permeation rate and degradation:

• 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 pinholes 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 material. You should always choose a low rate.
• Some chemicals can destroy the glove material. The material may soften, get harder, or may swell. Degradation indicates the deterioration of the glove material on contact with a specific chemical. You should choose gloves with an excellent or good degradation rating.
• Manufacturers’ charts help identify the best gloves for the chemicals being used.

The performance of glove materials can vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer.

“comfortable gloves are more likely to be worn. It is advisable to involve employees in the selection process”

You should also keep in mind that the manufacturers’ data is for single chemicals, not mixtures. If you mix chemicals, then their properties can change. You should base your glove selection on the component in the mixture with the shortest breakthrough time. However, the only way to be absolutely sure that a glove performs well against the mixture is to have it tested.

Latex


Everybody’s different and some people can develop an allergy to gloves made of natural rubber latex. It is actually fairly common. To prevent this, choose non-latex gloves unless there are no alternatives that give the protection needed. Should you need to use latex, choose low-protein, powder-free gloves.

Identify all Other Hazards


Chemicals are not the only hazard that you may need to protect against, and as mentioned above, you should identify any other hazards present. Are there risks from abrasion, cuts, puncture or high temperature? There are chemical protective gloves that also give protection against mechanical hazards (those marked EN388) and thermal hazards (those marked EN407).

There are also gloves that specifically protect against these risks.

Contact Type and Duration


Employers should consider how long gloves are likely to be worn for. Will gloves be worn for short periods or intermittently, or for longer periods of time? Where someone is wearing gloves for a longer period, comfort is more important. Thinner gloves offer better dexterity, but thicker gloves offer greater protection than thinner gloves in most cases.

Will contact with hazardous substances be from occasional splashes, or will the hands be totally immersed? Gauntlet length gloves should be considered for where hands are totally immersed (where this is unavoidable) but short gloves are fine to protect against splashes.


SOURCE:

https://www.hsimagazine.com/article/fits-like-a-glove/