Protective gloves

Abstract

An increased awareness of chemical, physical and microbiological risk factors in our work environment has led to an increased used of medical and protective gloves. In order to choose right glove for specific exposures testing of gloves performance is standardized in several international standards. These standards measure permeation of chemicals and leakage through imperfect membranes. There are also methods for testing the biocompatibility of gloves of polymeric membranes. The exposures are of various kind and gloves has to be chosen accordingly. No type of glove gives a perfect all-round protection but there has to be thorough risk assessment preceding the choice. Combination exposures make the choice of glove to given extra attention. It is always the exposure in the task and length of work that governs the choice of glove.