Selection Guidelines Hand Protection
- Check with SDS section VIII before working with any chemical
- It is important to select the most appropriate glove for a particular application or job
- It is important to know the performance characteristics of the gloves selected
- Use Kevlar gloves while cutting
- To help you figure out which hand safety PPE to wear, you can ask your supervisor. Be sure to follow your company’s policies on PPE selection and use.
Other factors to be considered for glove selection include:
- Degree of dexterity required
- The duration, frequency, and degree of exposure to the hazard
- The physical stresses that will be applied
- In addition to the specific chemical(s), other factors to consider in selecting gloves are how and where they will be used. In shop environments, gloves may be subjected to rougher handling and may be totally immersed in chemicals such as cleaners and degreasers. However, in labs, manual dexterity may be an issue, and splashes, as opposed to total immersion in the chemical, are more common.
- Gloves used in shop settings are thus required to be more resistant to tears and abrasion than those used in laboratory environments and are normally thicker (greater than 10-15 mils). In laboratories, thin, lightweight gloves are generally preferred (less than 10 mils). As a point of reference, typical dishwashing gloves are approximately 15 to 20 mils thick, and surgical latex gloves are on the order of 3 to 8 mils thick.
- A final consideration in glove selection is an individual’s sensitivity to the materials and chemicals used in the manufacture of gloves. Some people have allergic reactions to natural rubber proteins in latex, glove powder (used for absorbing perspiration), or other chemical constituents, such as rubber accelerators
OSHA is unaware of any gloves that provide protection against all potential hand hazards
Company policies of knives:
- Some companies do not allow knives on the job
- Some companies allow only locking blade knives
- Know your company’s knife policy before beginning work