Standards for Hand Protection
Protecting workers hands from impact injuries, including broken bones, pinching and bruising, is the intention of many impact-resistant work gloves. Many products designed to be impact-resistant feature Thermoplastic Rubber (TPR) or Thermoplastic Elastomers (TPE) and proprietary foams. However, no standard currently exists regarding glove design. That is soon to change, reports Industrial Safety & Hygiene News.
A new U.S. voluntary standard, ISEA 138 — Performance and Classification of Impact Resistance Hand Protection, is expected to be released later this year. The standard will focus on establishing industry-accepted test criteria to measure the reduction of peak impact force across the hand, and a set of classifications to enable users to select gloves suited to their work environments.
Construction is one of the industries where hand injuries are common. Because of the nature of crane operation, placement of outrigger pads is primarily a manual task. Protecting workers hands when handling SafetyTech® Products was an objective for the development of DICA’s Patented TuffGrip® Handles.
TuffGrip handles minimize finger pinching common to most handles because of improper handle lengths and materials are too rigid. Because TuffGrip Handles are larger in diameter and made from comfortable and strong yet flexible TuffGrip material they reduce cutting, pinching and fatigue caused by rope, cable and chain handles. Going a step further, recessed TuffGrip Handles on round SafetyTech Outrigger Pads don’t extend beyond the perimeter of the pads edge, allowing for easy rolling of the pads. This design gives the operator the option of not carrying the pad at all.
Selecting the right glove is an important task. Rodney Taylor, who leads D30’s Industrial PPE business and is involved with the development of ISEA 138, encourages workers to request products that meet standards guidelines.
He said: “Standards provide an objective means of evaluating performance and reduce complexity in the purchasing process. But, in a voluntary standards compliance environment like the U.S., manufacturers will only produce products that meet standards if there is demand from end users. So there is a burden on PPE purchasers to request products from the value chain that meet specific standards.”