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The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations (SI1992/2966) requires employers to provide their employees with appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Protective gloves, which are classed, as PPE must be marked as CE marked.
To assist in the selection of PPE, the Personal Protective Equipment Directive (89/686/EEC) is written such that the safety equipment is categorised. Please note that the original PPE Directive 89/686/EEC has been amended by both the 93/95/EEC Directive and the CE marking Directives 93/68/EEC and 95/58 EEC. This categorisation enables Safety Personnel to select the appropriate PPE to match the hazards and risks identified during Health and Safety audits. In addition, the properties of protective gloves are described by a range of European Standards, and gloves must comply with relevant standards. The PPE risk categories are described as simple, intermediate and complex design.
Simple design gloves may be used in situations where the end user can identify the hazards and the level of protection required; where the effects of hazard are gradual and can be identified in good time. Examples of simple design gloves include: gardening gloves, protection against cleaning materials of weak action, protection against heat (not above 50°C), and protection against minor impacts and vibrations.
Intermediate design gloves designed to protect against intermediate risk, e.g. general handling gloves requiring good cut, puncture and abrasion performance, must be subjected to independent testing and certification by a Notified Body. Only these approved Bodies may issue a CE mark, without which the gloves may not be sold.
Complex design gloves protect against dangers that could seriously or irreversibly affect health, the effects of which the end-user cannot identify in sufficient time. Such gloves include protection against chemical attack or ionising radiation, protection against heat where the temperature is above 100°C, protection against cold where the temperature goes below -50°C, and protection against electrical risks (for example, high voltage).
Whatever the category, gloves must comply with the essential health and safety requirements of the PPE directive. European Standards have been developed to enable the assessment of intermediate and complex design gloves.
All gloves must comply with EN420 General Requirements for gloves. Other standards relate to specific types of hazards. The standards provide a system for evaluating the performance of the glove according to stated levels. Pictograms are defined to provide a means of identifying the hazard against which the glove provides protection.
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General Requirements of EN420 |
EN420 defines the general requirements for most types of protective gloves:
- Product and packaging information and marking
- Design and construction
- Sizing
- Innocuousness
- Cleaning Instructions
- Dexterity
- Water vapour transmission and absorption
- Electrostatic properties |
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Rating |
| a) |
Abrasion resistance |
0 - 4 |
| b) |
Blade cut resistance |
0 - 5 |
| c) |
Tear resistance |
0 - 4 |
| d) |
Puncture resistance |
0 - 4 | |
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abcd | |
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CHEMICAL & MICRO-ORGANISMS EN374 |
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Rating |
Resistance to chemical hazards
(permeation) |
1 - 6 | |
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abc |
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Low Chemical resistant or Waterproof glove pictogram is to be used for those gloves that do not achieve a breakthrough time of at least 30 minutes (see below) against at least three chemicals from the defined list (see below), but which comply with the Penetration test. |
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Rating |
Resistance to micro-organisms.
Referred to as acceptable quality level (AQL). This pictogram is to be used when the glove conforms to at least a performance level 2 for the Penetration test. |
1 - 3 | |
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abcd | |
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PROTECTION FROM COLD EN511 |
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Rating |
| a) |
Resistance to convective cold |
0 - 4 |
| b) |
Resistance to contact cold |
0 - 4 |
| c) |
Permeability to water |
0 - 1 | |
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abc | |
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THERMAL HAZARDS (HEAT / FIRE) EN407 |
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abcdef |
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Rating |
| a) |
Burning behaviour |
0 - 4 |
| b) |
Contact heat |
0 - 4 |
| c) |
Convective heat |
0 - 4 |
| d) |
Radiant heat |
0 - 4 |
| e) |
Small splashes of molten metal |
0 - 4 |
| f) |
Large splashes of molten metal |
0 - 4 | |
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The higher the score the better the performance.
0 represents a fail, X denotes no test was carried out. |
EN420 General Requirements for Gloves
This standard includes tests for glove dimensions, dexterity and allergens. For example leather gloves are required to have a chromium VI content less than 2mg/kg. Gloves are required to be neutral with respect to skin contact.
The following equipment is used to access the properties of gloves specified by the EN388 standard.
A Martindale wear and abrasion tester is used to measure the abrasion resistance. The test involves rubbing samples cut from the palms of gloves, against a standard glass paper until a hole is worn through one of the samples. The number of abrasion cycles is used to assess the performance.
A Sodemat cut tester is used to measure the resistance to cutting. Samples are cut from gloves and placed in a frame which enables a circular, counter-rotating blade to slice through the glove material. The number of cycles required by the blade are recorded. These are converted into a cutting index by comparison with the number of cycles required to cut through a standard reference material. Performance levels are established according to cutting index.
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Performance Level |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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Abrasion Cycles |
100 |
500 |
2000 |
8000 |
n/a |
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Cutting Index |
1.2 |
2.5 |
5 |
10 |
20 |
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Tear Force [N] |
10 |
25 |
50 |
75 |
n/a |
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Puncture Force [N] |
20 |
60 |
100 |
150 |
n/a | |
Puncture and tear resistance are measured with a tensometer.
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Puncture resistance is measured as the force required to break through samples from gloves with a standard puncture needle. (It should be noted that the design of this needle is comparable to that of a large nail, and the puncture strength from this test cannot be used to assess resistance to puncture by hypodermic needles). |
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Tear resistance is measured as the force required to tear apart samples from the glove which are in the form of a pair of trousers (This test is also known as a trouser tear test). The legs of the trouser samples are pulled apart and the maximum force is used to assess the tearing resistance of the material. |
EN374-2 Determination of Resistance to Water Penetration
This is the reference test specified by the European Standard for the assessment of glove quality. Gloves must pass this test in order to prove that they are an effective barrier against liquids and microorganisms.
A statistical sample taken from a batch of gloves is subject to checks for pinholes and leaks by either inflation with air or by filling with water. Performance levels are assessed according to the acceptable quality levels (AQL) of the gloves.
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Performance Level |
2 |
3 |
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AQL |
1.5 |
0.65 | |
EN374-3 Determination of Resistance to Permeation by Chemicals
Resistance to permeation is assessed by measuring the time for a chemical to breakthrough the glove material. Samples cut from the palms of gloves, are placed in a permeation cell which enables the chemical to be placed in contact with the outer surface of the gloves. Air or water is passed through the cell to collect any chemical that has broken through to the inside surface of the glove sample.
The Chemical resistant glove pictogram must be accompanied by a 3-digit code. This code refers to the code letters of 3 chemicals (from a list of 12 standard defined chemicals), for which a breakthrough time of at least 30 minutes has been obtained.
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CODE LETTER |
CHEMICAL |
CAS NO. |
CLASS |
| A |
Methanol |
67-56-1 |
Primary alcohol |
| B |
Acetone |
67-64-1 |
Ketone |
| C |
Acetonitrile |
75-05-8 |
Nitrile Compound |
| D |
Dichloromethane |
75-09-2 |
Chlorinated paraffin |
| E |
Carbone disulphide |
75-15-0 |
Sulphur containing organic compound |
| F |
Toluene |
108-88-3 |
Aromatic hydrocarbon |
| G |
Diethylamine |
109-89-7 |
Amine |
| H |
Tetrahydrofuran |
109-99-9 |
Heterocyclic and ether compound |
| I |
Ethyl acetate |
141-78-6 |
Ester |
| J |
n-Heptane |
142-85-5 |
Saturated hydrocarbon |
| K |
Sodium hydroxide 40% |
1310-73-2 |
Inorganic base |
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L |
Sulphuric acid 96% |
7664-93-9 |
Inorganic mineral acid | |
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Performance Level |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
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Breakthrough Time [mins] |
>10 |
>30 |
>60 |
>120 |
>240 |
>480 | | |