VIDEO: TOOLING UP: Electrical Safety Gloves Designed For Comfort and Protection

JASON GHANNY: As we're manufacturing these gloves, the most important thing is for every electrical glove to meet the ASTM standards of electrical exposure that is necessary, right? These gloves do protect against 1000V AC and 1500V DC. So it's more important than ever in this day and age, because electricity is the sixth most common cause of occupational injuries that we're seeing.

Narrator: This video is brought to you by Ansell. Ansell is leading the world to a safer future. If you're looking for real world insights, tips from leading industry experts, the latest trends in products and technology, you've come to the right place. From MSC Industrial Supply, this is Tooling Up.

TONI NEARY: Hello and welcome to Tooling Up. I'm your host, Toni Neary and I'm so glad that you've joined us today. First things first. Have you already liked and subscribed? If not, go ahead and click those buttons and mark that off your to do list for today. Now you've already accomplished something. Doesn't that feel good? I'm excited to be talking about electrical protection and safety with Jason Ghanny. He's the associate director of product management and business development at Ansell. Jason, thanks so much, and welcome back to Tooling Up.

JASON GHANNY: Thank you Toni. Thank you guys for having me here again. And I'm excited to talk about this new product in our portfolio.

TONI NEARY: Jason, I think we could say you're an old hand at Tooling Up, pun intended. Our viewers will remember the last time you were here. We were talking a little bit about Ansell's chemical PPE, and today we're talking about protection against electrical exposure. How does Ansell keep the upper hand in making sure that in electrical locations and with electrical work, that you're keeping the workplace safe?

JASON GHANNY: Absolutely, Toni. You know, for electrical protection specifically, we really rely on our ActivArmr rubber insulated glove portfolio, right? Within this portfolio, we have a new product that we're launching that we're going to be talking more about here today that's really going to start helping our end users and some of the needs that we've identified right. Ansell refused to be part of the herd.

We continue to make sure we are understanding our customer needs, and we're truly providing them solutions based upon some of the gaps that they've seen that no other competitor can be able to offer them today right. With that, once we understand those needs, we utilize our, you know, our Ansell’s internal R&D as well as our testing capabilities to really create and bring to market the best solutions that our end users would need.

TONI NEARY: And this is pretty groundbreaking. This is the ActivArmr glove line. And I have to say, this does not feel how I expected a rubber glove to feel. So I know that you're making a difference in all kinds of workers where the rubber hits the road. But maybe we need to talk about where the rubber hits the glove and the fact that this is, it doesn't feel like rubber to me.

JASON GHANNY: Absolutely yeah. You know, Ansell we always make sure that we're utilizing the highest end of any of our material types we're using. So that speaks to the quality. In addition to that, you know, in the past, rubber insulated gloves were known to be thicker in nature right? Again, they're going to be protecting you from electrical exposures so thickness was kind of representative of that. Now as we continue down the road and you know, in today's time, there is a need for thinner solutions in the marketplace, right? A lot of our end users are working in smaller, more confined spaces. So we needed to make sure that we understand those needs and make sure we're providing a solution for those specific end users right. So with Ansell's proprietary formulation of the material itself, we're able to present this new ActivArmr Class 0 ultra lightweight style to the marketplace, which again, is not like anything else that we can offer in the marketplace today.

TONI NEARY: And let's talk about the benefits of a thinner glove. I think we can talk about the growth of electrification as an industry as one point, but tell me a little bit more about why it's so beneficial for the thinness, the durability, but also the grip that you have with this product line.

JASON GHANNY: Absolutely. You know, as we look at our end users, we understand that obviously, number one of importance is making sure that they have the correct electrical protection. Right. That's the number one importance. But second to that, and equally as important at times is the comfort of that glove, right. An end user will only use a glove if it's comfortable on their hands, and it's easy to use.

And it makes their work easier at the end of the day. So with our ActivArmr RIGS, ultra lightweight Class 0 electrical gloves, we've made sure that this is the thinnest form of this type of Class 0 glove that's out there in the marketplace today, being 20% thinner at the end of the day versus other Class 0s that are in the marketplace.

This thinness allows it to be more dexterous, more tactile, and even better within grip, so that our end users are able to do their work more effectively.

TONI NEARY: Let's take a deeper dive into some of the industries that would benefit from keeping these ActivArmr ULW Class 0 electrical gloves on hand.

JASON GHANNY: Absolutely, Toni. There's going to be a lot of industries, especially industries that have been changing with time, right? So some of these industries that we've seen where this is going to be very impactful is the AI technology industry, the robotics industry, the electrical vehicle manufacturing and battery manufacturing industry, and even residential, residential electricians. Right. Really, for any industry with a risk of a low level of electricity, is there in confined spaces, is part of kind of what you need to do think this type of thinner glove is really going to be able to provide our end user with a more comfortable, dexterous solution for them to do their work more effectively and efficiently.

TONI NEARY: Now, Jason, you may or may not know this about me, but I tend to be a little bit nerdy. And something came up when we were originally talking about these gloves, and that is don and doff. So can we talk a little bit about the process of don and doff?

JASON GHANNY: Absolutely. You know, donning and doffing of this glove is critical, right. Donning a glove is putting the glove on right. When you're donning this glove that you're going to be putting the two layers onto your hands. Again, the first layer being that RIGS ActivArmr, Class 0 Ultra Lightweight, which again, Toni, just to reiterate, protects up to 1000V AC and 1500V DC.

And then after that, you would don the 96-004 leather protector. These two solutions come together to give you really robust protection in the Class 0 ultra lightweight glove. And then after that, once you want to take it off, doffing the gloves means taking it off. You would take them off one at a time, leather protector first, and then the ultra lightweight Class 0 glove secondary from that.

TONI NEARY: And I know a comfortable glove is important for a very specific reason. And talk a little bit about why you want comfort for the end user with your gloves as well.

JASON GHANNY: Yeah, absolutely. Like we were going back to before to our previous point, you know, number one of importance is obviously the electrical protection. But second to that is going to be the comfort of the glove. Right. With our ActivArmr RIGS Class 0 ultra lightweight. This glove will be 20% thinner than other Class 0 ultra lightweights that are in the marketplace today.

That means that this glove will be more ergonomic, which will help reduce hand fatigue throughout the day. Right. We have to remember that electricians and anyone dealing with this type of work, they're utilizing their hands all day, every single day. So we want to make sure that we're reducing that stress as they're utilizing their hands on a daily basis.

So this solution, the ActivArmr RIGS Class 0 ultra lightweight, gives that comfort, tactility and dexterity to really make sure that they're giving superior protection in the most comfortable fashion that they can get.

TONI NEARY: Absolutely. And as much as I love a good glove pun, I'm not going to make one here, because protecting people is serious business, and it's something that you take seriously there at Ansell. And I can imagine that electrical hazards are pretty common in the workplace. Let's talk a little about the technology, the two layers of glove, and just how important the protection of individuals is to Ansell as an org.

JASON GHANNY: Absolutely. You know, one of the main things about this glove, again, is the thinness of it, like we talked about before Toni right. In addition to the actual RIG glove, the rubber insulated glove being thinner, to your point, we are also launching a new over glove, a leather over glove, which is our 96-004 over glove, which also helps with that thinness feel that we are looking for in the marketplace.

That glove has pinched fingertips, a more ergonomic feel, a thinner feel, as well as a clasp here to make sure that it is tight against the wrist so that it feels more snug against your hand. Again, going with the comfort and dexterity of this glove right. As we're manufacturing these gloves, the most important thing is for every electrical glove to meet the ASTM standards of electrical exposure that is necessary, right? These gloves do protect up against 1000V AC and 1500V DC. So it's more important than ever in this day and age, because electricity is the sixth most common cause of occupational injuries that we're seeing.

TONI NEARY: Jason, I think it's really important to know that your focus on safety and protection doesn't end with the manufacturing process. Let's talk a little bit about the testing that goes into all of the product lines that Ansell has, and specifically with the new line.

JASON GHANNY: Absolutely, Toni. So once our gloves are manufactured overseas, those gloves are then tested to make sure that they're meeting all of the ASTM standards of the electrical voltage that we are saying that it would be passed against. Right. In addition to that, once the gloves arrive into North America, they then go into our facility to be tested once again.

Why is that? Because that helps extend the shelf life of that testing. That's important for when we ship it out to make sure our customers are getting the greatest advantage in terms of the time of testing, that they're able to utilize the glove after all. Right. Again, the ASTM standards are very critically important. We need to make sure that those are being met in every testing facility that we do have.

And again, that helps assure that we're providing the best quality of gloves to all of our end users so that they know that they're adequate, adequately protected whenever, you know, utilizing this type of glove.

TONI NEARY: Jason, I cannot thank you enough for your time, your passion, and your persistence with finding the best ways to protect workers.

JASON GHANNY: Thank you so much for having us, Toni. We're very excited to have this product in the portfolio, and we welcome any questions that the team may have.

TONI NEARY: It was so great hanging out with Jason again today, and if you enjoyed our conversation as much as I did, and you want to make sure you don't miss any discussions like this, go ahead and click that like and subscribe button for our channel. To find out more about Ansell's ActivArmr ULW Class 0 Electrical Gloves, visit www.mscdirect.com/products/lightweightrigs. See you next time on Tooling Up.

Narrator: Want more insights and ideas to improve the efficiency and productivity of your operations? Check out the Tooling Up video playlist to hear tips that can take your company to the next level, and subscribe to our channel so you won't miss out.