Glove Love

GLOVES - HELP OR HAZARD?

Millions of gloves are used as protection every year by people at work in the UK. These gloves have two purposes. Either they are to protect the user from hazards in the workplace or to protect a product or person from the user. Of course, the glove may be expected to perform both functions.

The question has to be asked: Are gloves a help or a hazard?

My studies indicate that many gloves used in industry do not provide the protection that the employer and user believe they are getting. In some cases, the glove may actually be increasing the risk of damage to health from contact with the chemical. There is also the possibility that the glove may, itself, cause damage to health.

For a start, we need to consider the various factors which affect the way in which a glove performs. In the rest of this article we will concentrate on gloves being used as protection against chemical and biological hazards.

Gloves sold for this purpose come in many different materials, of which the main ones are: Natural latex rubber, Nitrile rubber, Polychloroprene (Neoprene™), Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Butyl rubber, Viton rubber, and various mixtures and laminates.

Each of these has its own particular characteristics and applications. None could be considered a universal glove suitable for all applications. To appreciate why selection is important we could consider how gloves actually fail.

There are four main reasons why gloves do not always provide the protection needed if damage to the health of the worker is to be avoided: Misuse, Physical failure, Degradation, Permeation and Misuse.

We assume that the worker will know how to don or remove a pair of gloves. This is simply not the case. If the untrained worker is asked to demonstrate the correct technique he or she will usually manage to contaminate either their hands or the inside of the glove.

Dirty gloves stuffed into an overall pocket or place in contact with clean clothing in a locker overnight are other causes of failure. Basic training on the correct use of gloves, including an understanding of the other factors described below, is essential (and a legal requirement) if gloves are to perform adequately.

It is important that the correct glove is worn. Chemicals underneath the glove may cause more damage than were a glove not worn at all, since they will be held in contact with the skin in a micro-climate where the skin's natural barrier cannot operate effectively.

Physical failure
It is not uncommon to see workers wearing gloves with holes, splits or cracks. It is also not uncommon to see workers wearing gloves from which they have removed the fingers so as to improve dexterity. They still seem to assume that the glove is protecting them!

Usually this damage is obvious. More insidious are the tiny imperfections (pinholes) which are often impossible to detect other than by sophisticated testing techniques. Frequently these holes are large enough to permit the penetration of a chemical, bacterium or virus.

http://www.ihcworld.com/royellis/ABCSafe/glossary/gloves-help-or-hazard.htm