Open HSME menu
Subscribe Login

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Press Release / Don’t Make These 7 Mistakes When Choosing Work Safety Gloves

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil, and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips, and Falls
  • Wellbeing at work
  • Working at Height
  • Working rights

MORE

  • Press Release
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
Open HSME menu
Subscribe

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Press Release / Don’t Make These 7 Mistakes When Choosing Work Safety Gloves

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil, and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips, and Falls
  • Wellbeing at work
  • Working at Height
  • Working rights

MORE

  • Press Release
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact

CATEGORIES

  • Heat and Flame
  • Safety Signage
  • Article
  • Press Release
  • Air Pollution
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil, and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Offshore Platform Safety
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Regulations & Legislations
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips, and Falls
  • Wellbeing at work
  • Working at Height
  • Working rights

Press Release

Don’t Make These 7 Mistakes When Choosing Work Safety Gloves

By Superior Glove

| Read Bio

Published: February 25th, 2020

Share this article

The following is adapted from Rethinking Hand Safety.

The hand is one of humankind’s greatest advantages. It sets us apart from other animals and allows us to complete any number of specialized tasks. 

So, when we injure our hands, it can have a huge impact on our life. Holding a pen, buttoning a shirt, brushing your teeth—it’s all more difficult with a hand injury.

With how important hands are, protecting workers’ hands must be a top priority. One of the best ways to do that is with proper safety gloves.

Picking the right gloves can mean the difference between a worker losing or keeping a finger. Yet far too often, I see companies go about this crucial decision the wrong way.

By learning from these companies’ mistakes, you can better protect your workers’ hands. Without further ado, here’s how to not choose safety gloves.

#1: Sticking with Old Gloves

The most frustrating part of my job is when the purchaser has no interest in my experience, the availability of modern materials, or the fine balance between protection, comfort, cost, launderability, and fashion. Instead, all they want is the exact same kind of glove they’ve been using for twenty years, but cheaper.

Normally I can’t say what I’m thinking, so I’ll say it here:

Listen, friend, if you’ve been using the same gloves for twenty years, you are doing a profound disservice to your workers. Why? Because gloves have improved, tasks have undoubtedly changed, and I know for a fact that you could do a better job protecting your people’s hands.

Would you use the same cell phone you used twenty years ago? Believe it or not, gloves have improved just as much.

#2: Picking a Glove without a Hazard Assessment 

Sure, workers’ hands need to be protected against cuts and abrasions. But do they also face a good chance of an impact? Occasional chemical exposure? Even if no such injuries have yet occurred, you need to find out if they could.

Far too often, gloves are chosen based only on past injuries, without trying to anticipate dangers. If you want to best protect your workers’ hands, a hazard assessment is absolutely required.

#3: Picking a Glove without Running Sample Trials with Actual Workers

You absolutely need worker feedback, and actual workers need to tell you that yes, these gloves can be used when performing this task, or no, they’re too clumsy. Actual workers need to say, “These gloves are comfortable enough—so yeah, these gloves will get worn.”

Without sample trials, you could easily wind up with hundreds of pairs of gloves that nobody wears. And gloves only provide protection if they’re worn. 

#4: Letting Workers Choose Their Own Gloves with No Oversight

I’ve walked into facilities where I’ve seen upwards of 100 or 200 different kinds of gloves being worn. I’ll turn to the safety manager and say, “What’s going on? You probably need ten different kinds of gloves, not a hundred, right?” And the reply comes, “Well, Jack likes this brand, and Jill likes that brand, so we let everyone choose their own. We give them a catalog, and they just specify what they want, and we order it.”

I carefully explain that not only does this cause a staggeringly unnecessary expense, but also individual workers simply do not have the expertise to each choose their own glove. They don’t know the options, they don’t know all the issues, and they won’t put in the necessary time for the decision.

Worker input: yes. Worker free-for-all: no.

#5: Relying on a Distributor Instead of Talking Directly to Experts at a Glove Company 

We once ran a secret shopper test in which we called up some major distributors and said, “Hey, we’re a metal-stamping company with 300 employees. We just had a serious hand injury, and we’re using X kind of glove—what would you recommend?” 

The responses were shocking. Usually, distributors asked us exactly what kind of glove we were using, then said, “Great, I’ve got that glove, but I can give it to you for a little less than you’re paying.” Seriously? The same gloves in which our people got injured, but lower quality? No advice on upgrading for safety?

Distributors, of course, sell everything from nuts and bolts to compressors and forklift parts. It’s not surprising they can’t always offer expert opinions on gloves. If you are a concern of any size, a serious glove company should be willing to come assess your needs, run trials, and get you the right stuff.

#6: Focusing on Your Legal Liability Instead of Your Workers’ Safety

If your primary question is, “Will this glove keep OSHA off our back and prevent us from getting sued?” you are going down the wrong path. The most likely result? You will buy gloves that are bulky and overprotective—hence they won’t get worn. When someone loses a finger, you might not get sued for failure to provide adequate PPE, but if you’d bought the right kind of glove, the guy might have actually been wearing his gloves, and his finger may not have been hurt at all.

Here’s one of the most common questions I get from purchasing managers: “What do you have that protects against basically everything?”

The answer?

The total glove exists, but you don’t want it. We have gloves that allow you to hold something that’s 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, but no one can wear it to hold a nail and hammer it in. If you add puncture resistance, you are adding bulk. If you make a glove waterproof, you are not just adding bulk, but discomfort. The trade-offs are real, and the trade-offs require expert advice, trials, and worker feedback.

#7: Thinking “One Person, One Pair of Gloves” 

A construction worker might spend the early morning handling a jackhammer requiring vibration-protective gloves. By 10:00 a.m., she might be handling a hazardous chemical like tar or glue. Later, she might pick up a smoothing rasp requiring an entirely different kind of protection. Ideally, that worker would switch gloves for each task—with the glove associated to the task, not the worker. Too often, however, both workers and supervisors think, “That’s the glove for Jane,” instead of, “That’s the glove for jackhammering.”

The right prescription is “one task, one pair of gloves.” The more specific the better.

SAVE SOME HANDS

Choosing which gloves to buy is a vital decision. It is a choice that will directly affect the safety of your workers. A choice that can save fingers. Hands. Livelihoods. Even lives.

When it comes to safety, you can’t afford to cut corners. If you or your company is currently making one of these seven common mistakes, it’s time to make a change. It’s time to choose better gloves and save some hands.

Share this article

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Superior Glove

Superior Glove® is one of North America’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of work gloves. A respected source for thousands of customers, Superior Glove® has been in the business since 1910. With four manufacturing facilities, we are able to serve customers globally. Specializing in cut-resistant gloves, we are also licensed manufacturers of Kevlar® and Dyneema® products and other high-quality work gloves for every industry.

Connect with Superior Glove

Visit Website

POPULAR POSTS BY Superior Glove

Press Release

Don’t Make These 7 Mistakes When Choosing Work Safety Gloves

Superior Glove Logo

Article

7 Cognitive Biases That Lead to Unsafe Work

Press Release

Superior Glove to Showcase Top Performing Protection with High Cut Resistance at A+A

Press Release

Superior Glove Introduces North America’s First Safety Gloves to Protect Fingertips

Get email updates

Sign up for the HSME newsletter

Keep up-to-date through the power of email with the region's only industrial health and safety magazine - delivering the latest news and products to satisfy all your occupational safety needs.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

HSME on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/HSMEMagazine/

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

HSME on Twitter

hsmemagazine HSME Magazine @hsmemagazine ·
1 Feb

isafe MOBILE announces the immediate availability of the world’s first 5G smartphone for ATEX and IECEx zone 1/21.

The IS540.1 is available immediately, find out more today: https://www.hsmemagazine.com/press-release/is540-1-available-now/

#hsmemagazine #isafeMOBILE #ATEX #IECEx

Reply on Twitter 1620747838971088898 Retweet on Twitter 1620747838971088898 Like on Twitter 1620747838971088898 2 Twitter 1620747838971088898

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE

Stay up to date with our newsletter

Keep up-to-date through the power of email with the region’s only industrial health and safety magazine – delivering the latest news and products to satisfy all your occupational safety needs.

 

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
2

Subscribe

SUBSCRIBE TO HSME MAGAZINE

5 reasons to subscribe to our digital and print package

  • Stay up to date from anywhere in the world, with instant access to the latest issue straight from your phone, tablet or laptop.
  • Trust that you’re getting the best content from our range of internationally accredited authors.
  • Get full access to our archives and see how occupational safety has evolved with us over the years.
  • Enjoy our monthly newsletter curated with up-to-the-minute news and a selection of editor’s top picks.
  • Hot off the press and straight to your door – look forward to your own glossy copy of HSME, delivered five times a year
Subscribe View Subscription levels

STAY SAFE & INFORMED

Subscribe to the best health & safety articles, news, products and regulations

Find out more

Stay up to date with our newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

ABOUT

  • About HSME
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us

YOUR ACCOUNT

Sign In Register Account Subscribe to HSME

RESOURCES

Request Media Pack

CONNECT

ACCREDITATIONS

Copyright Bay Publishing 2023. All Rights reserved.

Designed & Built by:
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT