Whether on worksites, in L’industry, or in theArts and crafts, the worker handles multiple tools and machines of its mains. I know protect effectively with some gloves is therefore essential. These are governed by different European standards in order to identify and classify the various needs and security levels. In this article, we list several of these categories of protective gloves.
General requirements
For the hand protection, protective gloves of all categories have in common that they are governed by the standard EN 420 for the general requirements. This is the basic standard and therefore obligatory for a pair of gloves to be categorized as protective gloves. This standard is therefore always associated with additional standards which will define different types of specific protections. Here are some details about the regulations of the standard IN 420.
In the first place, the gloves are marked by information verifying the compliance of a pair. It is thus specified on manufacturer’s name, the cut, the CE marking, the manufacturer’s designation and finally the various pictograms according to the associated additional standards.
The gloves must then respect safety criteria to ensure a port safe or constraint for the user. The chromium content must therefore be below the detection threshold (3 mg / kg). The extractable protein content from rubber gloves natural is tested according to standard EN 455-3. Finally the pH materials must be neutral (between 3.5 and 9.5).
For the comfort and the functionality, the gloves have a cut which is expressed in european size. One dexterity index also indicates the level of obstruction or not during the handling of tools by the operator. It spreads out according to 5 levels performance where the 5 indicates the better dexterity. Gloves meeting the EN 420 standard also have a good level of permeability and an good absorption capacity to the water vapour.
Following compliance with these first requirements, we can now list some additional standards who will guide in the choice of protective gloves adapted to the needs of multiple professional sectors.
Additional standards
As we have just seen, the protective gloves can offer various solutions to limit the risks in multiple trades. Here is a brief overview of the main additional standards that we can meet.
As we have just seen, the Hand protection PPE cover a wide range of gloves to various properties and governed by strict specifications. From chemical lab gloves to welder’s gloves, the needs of each Professional sector ask a appropriate equipment than the different standards allow to determine effectively.