Safety gloves are not only considered a means for protecting your hands from hazards at work, but they also serve as a form of protection from the cold, sun, and other elements.
The fabric is usually made of natural materials and can be found in various colors to suit different preferences. The color of safety gloves can be an important factor when it comes to personalizing work gloves.
They are also available in different designs, shapes, and sizes to suit any preference or need.
Your hands are a vital component of your body and perform all sorts of complex tasks. Because of this, you must protect them from harm while performing work.
There are many things that you should take into consideration when looking for the best work gloves on the market. These things are:
- Size and comfort
- Hand protection standards
- The cost of workplace hand injuries
- Hand hazards and safety risks.
Step one: Know the application and assess the hazard
Safety gloves are used to protect the hands of workers who are usually engaged in hazardous jobs.
As a crucial protective gear, a worker needs to choose the best safety gloves for their particular industry and specific tasks that they will be performing. Some factors such as durability, comfort, flexibility, hand size, dexterity, grip strength, and weight will play when making this decision.
Safety gloves are necessary to protect your hands from injuries while working with different types of hazardous materials.
Construction work is considered one of the most dangerous lines of work. During working hours, they will work on heavy machinery and very powerful hand tools.
Many of these things are operated by hand and pose serious hand risks. Other times they might be working in hazardous substances that can harm the skin.
Gas and oil workers are other groups that need to have the best safety gloves as they are exposed to hand injuries due to the nature of the job.
You might want to start to look at the assessment by looking at these a little closer:
- Non-routine tasks are being performed. This could be cleaning, which could have detergents that irritate the skin.
- Official accident records
- The datasheets and manufacturer instructions or recommendations for safety.
- Feedback from what workers are saying and identifying as hazards.
- Activities, equipment, and processes that use handheld equipment or the hands to apply.
Step 2-Know your people
Know who you have working for you. Some people are more accident-prone than others.
Do they take the guards off? Are they well trained and have many years of experience?
The point is, you know your workers, do they need the gloves?
Be sure that you are always reinforcing the use of safety precautions. Hand safety is very important in many industries.
Step 3 – Identify Risk Levels
Once you have found areas of concern, you need to identify the level of concern you should have.
While an abrasion, laceration, and incisions are not something you want your workers to get, you also want to avoid amputations. Identify if there are rough surfaces, sharp edges, or areas of concern.
This is important as you want to identify the level of PPE that the workers might need.
Some safety gloves are very thick and bulky and can get in the way, rather than just protecting. You don’t want the workers to give up on using gloves because they are a bother when nobody is looking.
Step 4-Know hand safety standards and regulations.
Hand safety is one of the most important safety standards in the workplace.
With it, you can prevent a multitude of accidents that could happen. Hand injuries are common and often go unnoticed until they become severe.
The hand safety standards and regulations help protect employees from these common accidents and keep them safe at work.
Because of this, in March of 2019, the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) came up with new standards for industrial gloves. They also have issues with testing that manufacturers need to do on the gloves to be certified.
In general, hand injuries are caused by contact with machinery, overexertion, or exposure to harmful substances found in many industries such as chemicals, acids, solvents, heavy metals, etc.
They can also be caused by direct contact with heat or cold objects or burns from hot liquids or steam.
To learn more about safety gloves and their regulation read out guide on Understanding EN 388.
Step 5- Match Safety Gloves with the Application
Safety gloves are used to protect the hands from cuts, scratches, chemicals, or other harm.
The applications for safety gloves depend on the type of glove. Some gloves only protect a limited region, while others can protect against a wide range of hazards.
Safety Gloves that contain nitrile are great for use in food processing plants where contact with chemicals and other materials is common.
If the application is unknown, it’s best to wear full-coverage gloves with powder-free latex, nitrile, or vinyl because they work well against most hazards.
Cardboard workers can also wear these safety gloves to protect their hands from scrapes and cuts when handling sharp objects like staples or cardboard edges.
For construction workers, safety gloves protect against possible injury when lifting heavy objects or using power tools that vibrate their hands.
Safety gloves are a must-have for virtually any job site. They protect people’s hands from cuts, burns, and other hazards that can happen on the job. Safety gloves are available in a variety of materials, each with its own benefits.
You want to match the gloves to protect against the hazards that the worker is exposed to.
This could be things such as rough edges, where you want them to be puncher resistant. With the new processes of today, workers can have access to gloves that work well for their particular application. Far better than they did before.
Most of the time, form-fitting safety gloves are the best for those looking to protect their hands and still use them to work. You will want to have the proper protection, but you also want ease of use.
The new materials and designs are far better than they ever were before.
Step 6 – Find the right size safety gloves.
When it comes to choosing a pair of safety gloves, size is an important factor to consider.
The size of the gloves should be appropriate and comfortable. Most hand accidents occur because the person isn’t wearing any gloves. This is because they don’t fit or get in the way of them performing their jobs properly.
Things to consider when looking to fit gloves that people will want to wear are:
- Throw out old workgloves that have lost the ability to protect the hands.
- Inside seams are durable but can cause rashes and skin irritation.
- Outside seems are more comfortable to wear.
Step 7 – Educate on how to wear hand protection.
While it seems obvious how to wear gloves, sometimes, we need to stop and think about what type of safety gloves make sense.
You will want to have gloves that are made of materials that make sense for the job. You will also want to make sure the gloves fit and perform properly.
People are not going to wear gloves that are bothersome to wear and do their job.
However, safety gloves are made of all sorts of materials and designs that will allow the gloves to function better than others. Find gloves that fit and function so that the workers will want to wear them to protect their hands.
Conclusion
For the most part, you need to use a little common sense when buying the best safety gloves ever.
Be sure that you know your workers, take into account what they have to say, and look at the operations they are performing. Try to find gloves that function properly.
Workers are more apt to wear gloves if they don’t get in the way of performing their duties. Let them have a say on what gloves they like and will wear as well.
The Top 5 Safety Gloves Recommended.
As stated above,
For the most part, you need to use a little common sense when buying the best safety gloves ever.
But what safety gloves do we actually recommend to our customers?
Well, below we’ve listed out top 5 best selling safety gloves for you to consider.
Take a look.
Power Paws
The Pred POWER PAWS were created to empower workers by ensuring that they can do their jobs in a safe environment.
They are designed to protect workers from injuries and hazards. The Pred POWER PAWS is a protective gear that you can wear on your hands that will keep you safe while you do tasks like drilling, sawing, and hammering.
The Pred POWER PAWS protects fingers with impact-absorbing foam. It also has a palm pad for protection while hammering or sawing.
These gloves are cotton-lined and give you an amazing grip.
They are a cut level 2, which isn’t super great for that sort of protection but will help with sharper edges and abrasive surfaces. They are rated up to a level 2 for heat, which s around 284°F.
The fingers are double-dipped for better protection and increased longevity.
They work get for those working in automotive, factories, or construction. They are chemical resistant making them good for areas where there is a lot of greases and grime.
Pred MINT Gloves
The Pred MINT Gloves have cutting-edge technology that can protect against bacteria, viruses, and diseases. They are certified to be resistant against the most dangerous chemicals and are even designed to adapt to changes in temperature.
They are made with a unique material that is both fireproof and strong enough to withstand harsh conditions.
In addition, they have an anti-static fabric that is comfortable and doesn’t create static electricity, which can easily lead to accidents.
The gloves also feature an easy touch material on the fingertips, making it easier for workers when they need to use their hands for precision work.
The Pred Mint is a very grippy style glove with a palm that is coated in nitrile foam; this ribbed liner improves the ribbing power of the worker.
These are perfect for the glass industry or window industry. They are a little better than the Pred Power Paws with a cut level 5, so they are resistant to sharp objects.
The backs are breathable, making them very flexible and comfortable to wear. They are chemical resistant as well.
Pred PINE Gloves
Pred PINE gloves are protective gloves for workers who handle hazardous materials. The gloves provide the protection that is needed to avoid injury while maintaining a lightweight and flexible design.
The gloves are made from a polymer-based material designed to resist oils, acids, water, and many other liquids. It also provides an excellent grip on surfaces like ladders and scaffolding.
The gloves also help protect against static electricity, which can cause harmful sparks or even fires in some cases.
The Pred PINE is very similar to the Pred MINT. However, it has smooth palms and is not ribbed as the MINT option.
They have a cut rating of 5 and are offered in small, medium, large, extra-large, and extra-large sizes. They, too, have a nice smooth cotton interior that is perfect for working in.
You will typically find the PINE in the recycling or waste management industry due to their gripping power and ability to keep liquids at bay.
Pred NEEDLE Gloves
The gloves are made with a material that is 3 times thicker than traditional rubber gloves, and they have a textured surface. These gloves provide protection against needle sticks as well as chemical spills.
Pred NEEDLE Gloves are designed to protect workers from needle sticks and even chemical spills by being 3 times thicker than traditional rubber gloves. They have a textured surface so that they do not slip while being worn. T
The Pred NEEDLE is a puncture-resistant option. They were made to protect the wearer from hypodermic needles and a cut level F protection.
They are made from cotton and steel blends that will keep the sharp objects from harming the person wearing them.
Pred PVD Gloves
Pred PVD gloves are made of three materials: PVC, polyurethane, and durable foam.
The Pred PVD gloves will protect you from many different chemicals and contaminants, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, paint thinner, and more.
Pred PVD Gloves protect workers by shielding them from harmful dust and chemicals. They are made of a durable, flame-retardant fabric impervious to most acids, alkalis, and many other chemicals.
