Glove Review

Safe, effective use of gloves as protection against chemical and biological hazards

It is inevitable that in many organisations there will be a need to provide gloves as protection against chemical and biological hazards. If correctly selected and used they can provide effective protection for your workforce. Unfortunately, unless the system ensures they are selected and used correctly the use of gloves may actually increase the effect of chemical contact, resulting eventually in contact dermatitis, contact urticaria or damage to internal organs.

Ensuring the correct gloves are selected and used within their real performance limitations is far from as simple as many assume. (For more on this see overleaf.) It is also an aspect of personal protective equipment where there is much misinformation and inappropriate advice. The result can be damage to workers' health, with all the costs that this entails, as well as frequently unnecessary expenditure on gloves that are really not fulfilling the employer's expectations.

As independent advisors on the prevention of damage to health due to workplace skin exposure at EnviroDerm Services we have many years experience of helping clients ensure that they have an effective system for the provision and use of gloves and one that does not involve unnecessary cost. Since we do not supply gloves and are independent of all manufacturers and suppliers, you can be confident that our advice is impartial and objective. We can help you avoid the problems arising out of the bewildering variety of gloves available in the marketplace and the often less than scientifically founded claims from some suppliers as to their gloves real performance.

Creating an effective glove selection and use system

For a single fee we will spend time with you on your site to review:

• How you currently select gloves as protection, with time spent in the workplace studying how gloves are used in real day to day working,
• The nature of the hazards and levels of exposure against which gloves are required to provide protection,
• Other factors, such as physical and mechanical hazards that can affect the selection and performance of gloves, dexterity, the potential adverse effects on the skin from glove use, etc.

From the data gathered we will review the gloves available from a range of manufacturers and develop recommendations for gloves for the different applications involved in your operation. Once you have decided on the gloves you wish to use, then we will create glove selection and use guidance such that any worker needing to use gloves can instantly assess which gloves he or she should be using, how often these need changing, etc. We can also help with a training programme so that users understand the need for compliance and know how to remove gloves without contaminating their hands, essential if the gloves are to work and for compliance with the regulatory requirements regarding personal protective equipment.

For more information or to discuss how we can help ensure that you have the right gloves, used in the right way, so that your workforce is really provided with suitable and effective protection, without unnecessary expense, call or e-mail us .