Whether you’re a veteran of the industry, or have years of experience under your belt, reading about the importance of wearing gloves while working can sound like being lectured.
Perhaps you feel that wearing gloves makes your hands sweaty, or that gloves are a necessary evil.
Regardless of your thoughts about wearing gloves, not wearing them properly play a significant role in the occurrence of workplace injury. The US Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) reports that a significant portion of hand injuries resulting from a visit to the emergency room was due to people not wearing gloves.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cites a myriad of hand injuries that you can routinely face as a contractor, including skin absorption of harmful substances, chemical or thermal burns, electrical dangers, bruises, abrasions, cuts, punctures, fractures, and amputations.
“Hand and finger injuries are the second most common work-related injury,” Aramsco Product Manager, Jennifer Miller said. “An average of 100,000 people lose time at work due to hand injuries, which can be dramatically reduced with knowledge and the correct tools to do so,” Miller emphasized, citing BLS data.
Despite all of the scary statistics, the good news is that almost all hand injury on the job is avoidable by implementing proper glove safety practices.
With this in mind, there are best practices that you should follow for selecting and wearing gloves.
Choosing the right glove doesn’t have to be time-consuming. The best part of modern glove manufacturing is that innovations in design have led to comfortable technology that doesn’t sacrifice performance.
OSHA has developed a set of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) guidelines that will protect your team while working. They recommend that gloves be selected based on the task that will be performed, the chemicals that you will encounter, and the construction of the glove material.
Below is a simplified breakdown I’ve developed that incorporates these standards and can be used to make a glove plan for your company.
Note that it’s important to think ahead and ask yourself these questions before beginning each job. Although many of the workplace environments that you encounter every day will be similar, it’s essential to assess the situation beforehand so that you’re not underprepared.
The nature of many jobs involves unavoidable hazards. You need to conduct a thorough review of what you will be doing, so that workplace safety controls can be identified. You should walk through the job site first, and survey the area for potential dangers. While you do this ask yourself questions such as:
For this step, identify which chemicals your hands will come into contact with and ask these questions:
These first two steps are part of what OSHA calls a “hazard assessment.” A hazard assessment should be conducted on a reoccurring basis throughout the duration of the job as work conditions change; all changes should be accounted for in your glove safety plan.
Not all gloves are built equally, so it’s important to pick one that sufficiently meets the needs of your current job.
If you have completed the first two steps, you likely have a good idea about what glove will meet the standards that you identified above.
Now it’s time to select a glove. It might come as a surprise when looking at the chart, but there’s a glove for everything!
Many websites provide spec sheets that give detailed information about the performance ratings and features of their gloves to help you in narrowing your search.
On our ProForce Armor glove page, you can download the spec sheet for our ProForce line of gloves under the “related documents” tab.
An initial look at the chart shows how each type of glove performs against impacts, cuts, dexterity, and grip. For example, if you are doing restoration work and are handling material with rough or sharp edges, our ProForce Armor gloves feature HPPE ANSI-A3 cut-resistant stitching.
In 2016 ANSI and ISEA (The International Safety Equipment Association) published a scale that covers 9 different levels of cut protection measured in grams of pressure a glove can hold before being cut through.
You can use this scale when checking the label on the glove under consideration to see if it meets the standards needed for your job.
By Creating a Glove Strategy You Add Value to your Business
Of course, wearing appropriate hand protection is only one part of the equation that your business should follow for developing a comprehensive PPE strategy, but it will go a long way; as a business owner, having a glove protocol in place will put your business in a favorable position, protect you from being sidelined, and ensure that your customers and employees trust your work practices.
Save this article to your phone and use it at the beginning of each job to create a glove safety plan. You don’t have to go out of your way to see the immediate benefits that come from making your job site a safer place.
For further help with creating a glove safety plan, OSHA has consultative services and other informational material about creating a comprehensive protective strategy available for free on their website. You can also talk with representatives at any of our locations on how to apply these principles at work.
ProForce Armor Gloves Nitrile Coated Palms and Fingers Size L, Sold by the Pair
ProForce Ranger Gloves Cotton Blended Shell Size L, Sold by the Dozen
ProForce Sentry Gloves Nitrile Gray Size L, Sold by the Dozen