How to find the right protective gloves – advice from our experts
Protective gloves are essential gear for every professional worker. The gloves you are most likely to come across are coated gloves. These offer excellent protection while still being comfortable to wear. A variety of materials, each with their own specific qualities, are used to make these gloves.
Do you know how to choose the right ones to ensure optimal protection and comfort at work?
Polyurethane-coated work gloves
What distinguishes this type of glove is its excellent breathability, high elasticity, and flexibility, ensuring comfort and sensitivity for the wearer when handling small objects. This is one of the reasons why polyurethane-coated work gloves are particularly popular for close-up work.
Polyurethane gloves have the great advantage of being highly resistant to abrasion and tearing. On the other hand, polyurethane-coated work gloves are not particularly resistant to oils, grease and chemicals. Therefore, they are not suitable for work that involves aggressive chemicals or oils.
Nitrile-coated work gloves
Looking for comfortable gloves that will protect you when you’re working with a wide range of chemicals, including oils, greases, petroleum products, and certain acids and alkalis? Then we recommend that you opt for nitrile-coated gloves.
Nitrile gloves are highly durable and provide a good grip. They are also breathable and hypoallergenic. The only downside is that they are less elastic and flexible, but this does not significantly affect comfort during use.
Foam nitrile work gloves
Foam nitrile’s porous structure adds to the benefits of classic nitrile by improving breathability, making this type of glove a great choice. Especially if you wear work gloves for extended periods of time and place a premium on comfort. The gloves’ high resistance to abrasion, punctures and tears guarantees a long service life, even in the toughest condition.
Did you know?
If you work with oil, then foam nitrile work gloves are your best bet. Foam nitrile gives you both a great grip and high cut resistance.
Work gloves coated with foam nitrile provide good grip even in wet or oily conditions. Just keep in mind when using them that they can become saturated more quickly in a high-oil setting, which gradually reduces their effectiveness.
Latex-coated work gloves
Latex gloves have excellent elasticity and grip. This allows the wearer to work at close range with great sensitivity and precision. If you work in wet conditions, we would definitely recommend latex gloves. Latex offers excellent resistance to moisture, water, and chemicals. It is also abrasion and puncture resistant, making it suitable for construction, waste handling, and maintenance.
On the other hand, latex-coated gloves are not hypoallergenic and may cause allergic reactions in individuals who are sensitive to latex. These gloves are also not suitable for work with oils and grease, because they degrade quickly in these conditions.
PVC-coated work gloves
If you work in challenging environments where you are exposed to chemicals or high humidity, PVC gloves should definitely be part of your kit. Their best attributes include resistance to cold and excellent mechanical durability. This type of glove also provides outstanding protection against most acids, alkalis, and alcohols.
Our tip:
PVC-coated work gloves offer protection against cold down to -30°C. This synthetic material is resistant to water-based chemicals, grease, and hydrocarbons.
PVC gloves are extremely durable and are particularly recommended for medium- to heavy-duty tasks. The downside of PVC is that it is less flexible and adaptable than latex or nitrile. A lower level of tactile sensitivity may not be a good idea if you do a lot of work at close range.
Continue reading
Workplace safety: Warehouse
How we saved CBA Verex 237 kg of waste from work gloves a year
