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Last Updated on Sunday, 28 April 2013 21:27 Written by Administrator Wednesday, 06 March 2013 02:49

Industrial workplaces can be hazardous and risky for the many workers. Construction sites, power plants, automotive factories, steel and metal fabrication plants, and oil and gas rigs are classic examples of high-risk work sites. That’s why wearing specialized work clothing and safety gears are mandatory for workers in these industries, as a way to ensure safety from injuries and event death. These protective clothing include overall suits, helmet, mask, boots, and, more importantly, hand gloves. Each of these items is especially designed to withstand rigors of daily work as well as the possible wear and tear associated on the task at hand. In addition, wearing proper work uniform and complete work safety gears ensures greater productivity and efficiency among high-risk workers.

Of all the work uniform and safety gears, greater emphasis is put in the design, material and selection of working gloves. Familiarizing with the suitable glove designs for particular industrial tasks is key in the proper selection of this protective working tool, and ensures better protection from hand and arm injuries like cuts, burns or scratches. In this article, focus will be put into the different types of industrial gloves, which are specifically engineered to ensure better protection for worker handling a wide assortment of materials at varying pressure and temperature conditions.

Educate workers first

In many countries, workers’ training for occupational and health safety standards is mandatory, especially among workers in high-risk industries like construction and manufacturing and assembly plants, among others. Having the right skills is never enough in ensuring work safety. Workers must be well educated or well trained about actual work hazards, which often involve injuries to the arms, hands, and wrists. A thorough instruction on the safety procedures in operating certain machines and equipment must be put in place. In addition, they need to be well informed of the contingency plans of handling equipment malfunction. More importantly, they need to be taught on the ways to properly select the working gloves suitable to their tasks as well as the tell tale signs that their gloves need replacement. Of all the types of injuries listed in the anecdotal reports of industrial companies, hand injuries remain to be the top incident in high-risk work sites. This perhaps explains the relatively high insurance coverage and damages paid for workers who happen to lose their digits, fingers or hands in the line of duty.

Use the right kind for the right job

The variety of industrial work gloves are made available these days. Industrial gloves are made from a wide variety of materials to provide sufficient protection for various work conditions. For example, cotton gloves offer protection against dirt;double palm cotton gloves are designed to offer protection for handling materials at low-level heat. Meanwhile, leather gloves are more ideal hand protection for works that handle rough objects, sparks, heat and other heavy-duty tasks. These types can deliver comfort, durability, protection from abrasion, dexterity,and resistance to heat. When it comes to handling dangerous and toxic workers that constantly handle chemicals like drain cleaners, pesticides, and other harsh liquids, wearing gloves made from nitrile or neoprene is recommended.

Below are some industry specific examples of gloves that are available nowadays:

Aerospace industry gloves

This industry can cover a full-spectrum of materials handling jobs, but the gloves commonly used among them are silicone-free types, which helps eliminate the possibility of any cross-contamination. Other features include cut-resistant and close-fitting, which is crucial to avoid loose clothing like glove from becoming a hazard when working with moving parts as well as to allow precision, dexterity and touch sensitivity. Other materials used are polyurethane to make the gloves lightweight and to provide good grip without adding bulk, nitrile to make the gloves puncture resistance and chemical exposure protection.

Agriculture industry gloves

In the agriculture industry, the most common types of hand injuries include cuts, punctures and abrasions during cultivation and harvest time. Meanwhile, the handling of different vegetation can also result to tissue or skin damage. Typical designs for agricultural gloves include two layers of textured micro finish latex to ensure excellent wet or dry grip, puncture resistance, and ploy knit, which effectively keep moisture away from hands.

Masonry gloves

Masonry works pose risksfor a wide variety of hazards particularly for the workers' handslike abrasions and cuts brought about for instance by cutting blocks, stone, concrete and tiles. Included in these as well is exposure to chemicals associated with concrete mixing and wood handling among others. The ideal gloves to get for this job are those designed to puncture, cut, abrasion and chemical resistance. Other seasonal factors should be considered as well when applicable like protection against cold and wet conditions.

Electrical and electronic industry gloves

The features that should be considered for these gloves include close fitting and good grip in order to effectively handle tasks that require fine motor skills like the of wiring electrical boxes, conduit and junction boxes. These gloves must be designed to provide dexterity to effectively handle small wires and cables as well as puncture resistant.

For electronics factory gloves are designed and used to protect products from both contamination and static build-up. These gloves should be light to provide maximum dexterity and touch sensitivity thus ensuring precision.

Food processing industry gloves

Gloves used for this industry are also required to meet standards imposed by the respective food manufacturing regulatory bodies in every country. The purpose of the gloves in this industry varies depending on the type of food handled and the food manufacturing, processing and packing procedures involved. The use of prescribed working and food handling gloves will not only prevent contamination but also provide protection for working hands that handle foodstuff and load them to machines for processing. These types of gloves need to resilient against the rigors of working against heat, chemicals, and very cold environment like freezers. It’s safe to say the workers in the food industry do not use one single type of gloves. Each glove must be designed specific to the work involved, like being cut-resistant forthose stationed in meat-processing or butchering stations or heat-resistant for those who work ins stations that handle actual food heating or cooking.

Glass industry gloves

For the type of gloves use in the glass industry, providing strong grip features is the most important design factor for workers’ gloves. Mostly, the injuries that occur in this workplace are cuts, sprains, and strains caused by loose grips. The glove material should have a non-skid rubberized coating to avoid such circumstance, especially when handling glossy, oily, wet or smooth surface glass panels. The glovesshould be made also have an outer layer that will not leave scratch marks or dirt on the surface of glass panels, particularly coated glass types.

Oil and gas industry gloves

The most common working hazard associated with this industry is the crushing, pinching, cuttingand puncturing of hands and fingers. Because workers also handle tasks such as drilling, pipeline handling, and propping, heavy-duty gloves and glove materials is essential. Among the glove details to look are the back-of-the-hand impact protection, arc flash protection, and good grip for handling oil.

Automotive industry gloves

When assembling motor parts in the factory, workers in the automotive industry need to use gloves define by good fit, cut resistance and good grip. These should fit well enough to feel fine parts without hampering worker’s productivity. Sharp metal edges are also being handled, that is why the gloves need to be cut-resistant. Finally, the automotive gloves need to include grip features, which is crucial in prevent slippery hands when handling oily metal or glass components.