How To Choose The Correct Safety Gloves?
Ways To Choose The Right Kind Of Safety Gloves
A PPE kit includes equipment that can be used to protect an individual from possible mishaps or hazards. As an employee in the industry or as a sportsperson, the safety of hands is of utmost importance. Hands are the reason why humans are so different from other animal species.
One needs to protect the hand from possible scratches, cuts, exposure to dangerous chemicals, and many more. In industries, many equipment and materials can result in a potential injury. Moreover, protection from pathogens is another key aspect in the healthcare & food processing industries. How does one achieve this protection?
Do you want to know more about PPE in Firefighting & Food Processing Industries? Go through our detailed article on PPE in Firefighting & Food Industries.
PPE For Hands aka Safety Gloves
Safety gloves are widely used as a PPE for hands. They ensure proper protection for hands. Well, most people presume that choosing safety gloves is a simple task. Is it true? Not at all. Safety gloves are designed, manufactured, and used based on the type of protection they are intended to provide.
It is the duty of both the employer & employee to take note of the type of safety gloves they are including in their PPE kit. It would be outright foolish if someone uses leather gloves while handling chemicals. So, how do you choose good safety gloves?
Do you want to know about safety gloves in detail? Check out our article on uses, importance, and types of safety gloves.
How To Choose Safety Gloves?
In a nutshell, choosing a proper set of safety gloves involves a thorough understanding of the working conditions, protection capabilities of the safety gloves, the material of the safety gloves, comfortable fit & aesthetics of the safety gloves. Let’s deep dive & analyze each aspect in detail.
Analysis of Working Conditions -
Safety gloves protect hands from possible hazards, accidents, or mishaps. Unless the employer or the employee doesn’t identify the possible perils & hazards, one may not make an ideal choice.
For example, let’s assume that an employee works alongside chemicals. There may be a possibility of accidental contact with the chemical. So, the right choice of safety gloves would be the ones that are resistant to that particular chemical. Similarly, for jobs where there is a risk of crushing, one needs to use durable, heavyweight, and thick gloves. For simple tasks, where there is the possibility of cuts & scratches, the gloves should be resistant & durable.
Have you observed the gloves of a gardener? They protect from cuts, scratches, bites, and pinches. These safety gloves are sturdy, durable, yet comfortable & flexible. They are mostly water or sweat resistant. Some of them are even chemical-resistant (for protection against pesticides & insecticides).
Similarly, healthcare, food processing industries, and pathogen research departments use safety gloves as a barrier between hands & pathogens. This requires them to use the disposable type of safety gloves that decrease the chance of the spread of these pathogens.
Check out the CDC website for a detailed information about PPE guidelines in healthcare industry.
Many other different working conditions demand a different set of requirements & protection from the safety gloves. Material of the safety gloves also plays a key role in the above-mentioned requirements.
Protection Capabilities of the Safety Gloves -
Once the working conditions have been analyzed, one needs to understand the extent up to which the safety gloves can protect. For example, what is the extent up to which the safety gloves are resistant to a particular chemical? Especially, the duration & concentration of the chemical plays a crucial role in determining the protection capabilities of the safety gloves.
Choosing the correct manufacturer or brand also is quite important. The manufacturer must have a good reputation for quality products as well as must comply with all the guidelines laid down by the governing authorities. The best way to check the reputation of the manufacturer is by taking a good look at the reviews. In the absence of it, one may take a keen look at the standards that the manufacturer follows for its manufacturing.
Again, the protection capabilities of the safety gloves are highly influenced by the material of the safety gloves. One needs to take a keen look at this factor as a wrong estimation of the protection capabilities of the safety gloves may result in an injury.
Material of the Safety Gloves -
The properties of the safety gloves are highly dependent on the design & material of the safety gloves. Even if two safety gloves are providing the same desired protection, then the material of the safety gloves plays a key role. Why? Because some materials can cause allergies to the skin of the individual who wears them.
Latex safety gloves are one prime example of it. They were widely used in the 90s, but are currently banned in some institutions and workplaces owing to the spread of their allergies. If you are an individual who cares for the environment, then you would surely look for safety gloves made up of biodegradable material. So, in some cases, it becomes quite important to take an account of the material of the safety gloves. Check out why biodegradable materials are necessary to protect the environment.
Comfortable Fit & Aesthetics of the Safety Gloves -
The comfortable fit is one of the most important factors while choosing safety gloves. If an individual is planning to wear the safety gloves for long durations, then they should choose a size with a comfortable fit. If this factor is neglected, it could hamper the efficiency & effectiveness of the work done by the employee. In some cases, such as motorcycle driving, stylish aesthetically pleasing safety gloves are most often chosen. In such cases, even aesthetics play an important role in choosing them.
Conclusion -
The best way to choose the right kind of safety gloves is to analyze the factors which are as follows:
- Understanding & Analysis of the Working Conditions
- Protection Capabilities of the Safety Gloves
- The Material of the Safety Gloves
- Comfortable Fit & Aesthetics of the Safety Gloves
In a situation, where the decision-making becomes difficult, choose safety gloves that do not compromise with the protection of the hands.
Stay Safe! Stay Healthy! Stay True!