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When must I provide hand and arm protection?
If your workplace hazard assessment reveals that your employees risk injury to their hands and arms, and engineering and work practice controls do not eliminate the hazards, you must provide your employees with appropriate protection. The injuries you may need to guard against in your workplace include the following:
What kind of equipment is necessary to protect the hands and arms?
For many workplace operations, machine guards such as point-of-operation guards will be sufficient. For example, install a barrier that makes it impossible for employees to put their hands at the point where a table saw blade makes contact with the wood it cuts. For other hazardous operations, you may be able to institute work procedures that eliminate the risk of injury to your employees' hands or arms. When such measures fail to eliminate the hazard, however, protective gloves will be the primary means of protecting employees' hands. When the risk of injury includes the arm, protective sleeves, often attached to the gloves, may be appropriate.
Is there one kind of glove that will protect against all workplace hazards?
No. The nature of the hazard(s) and the operation to be performed will determine your selection of gloves. The variety of potential occupational hand injuries may make selecting the appropriate pair of gloves more difficult than choosing other protective equipment. Take care to choose gloves designed for the particular circumstances of your workplace.
What kinds of protective gloves are available?
Gloves made from a wide variety of materials are designed for virtually every workplace hazard. In general, however, they may be divided into four groups:
Metal Mesh, Leather, or Canvas Gloves
Sturdy gloves made from metal mesh, leather, or canvas provide protection against cuts, burns, and sustained heat.
Fabric and Coated Fabric Gloves
These gloves are made of cotton or other fabric to provide varying degrees of protection.
Adding a plastic coating to some fabric gloves strengthens them and makes them effective protection for a variety of tasks.
Chemical- and Liquid-Resistant Gloves
Gloves made of rubber (latex, nitrile, or butyl), plastic, or synthetic rubber-like material such as neoprene protect workers from burns, irritation, and dermatitis caused by contact with oils, greases, solvents, and other chemicals. The use of rubber gloves also reduces the risk of exposure to blood and other potentially infectious substances. Some common gloves used for chemical protection are described below. In addition, Table 4 rates various gloves as protectors against specific chemicals and will help you select the most appropriate gloves to protect your employees.
How do I make sure my employees properly use the equipment I have selected?
Train your employees to use the protective gloves and sleeves. Checklist F will help you teach your employees how to use and care for the equipment.
This page was updated on 30-Mar-2016