When you’re working with hazardous chemicals, pulling on a pair of safety gloves before you get started might seem like a basic, even a simple, precaution.
It’s not as simple as it looks: All gloves aren’t created equal, and if you’re not wearing the right pair, they’ll do you little to no good.
U.S. manufacturing businesses work with thousands of different chemicals, each with unique properties that interact differently with the materials in protective gloves. The result: A glove that protects wearers from formaldehyde, for instance, might deteriorate quickly when it’s exposed to acetone.
While the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule on safety gloves, Standard 1910.138, requires employers to measure protective characteristics against the risks workers encounter, it can be difficult for buyers to tell which glove does what—especially given the arcane language of chemicals and the varying concentrations in which they’re sold.
PPE-maker SHOWA Group recognizes that—and it has developed a tool to help: ChemRest.com.
Splash Resistance vs. Prolonged Exposure
“It’s a value-add website that helps customers identify which glove should be used for which chemical,” explains Christie Gay, national account manager with SHOWA. “This is really important not only in chemical plants but in all manufacturing facilities: All of them use some types of chemicals, whether it’s janitorial products for cleaning toilets and wiping countertops or stronger substances such as hydrofluoric acid and acetone.”