Determination of safe time and conditions of using gloves protecting hands against particularly harmful chemicals

Project manager: Katarzyna Szczecińska M.Sc. (Eng.)

Project summary:

The aim of this task was to identify the phenomenon of changing protective properties of safety gloves subjected to the effect of chemical substances in conditions equivalent to those at workstations where this kind of protective equipment is used. While this task was carried out, a method and criteria of assessing the wearing off of gloves protecting against chemical substances were developed. In order to assess a safe period of using gloves protecting against chemical substances, parameters considered to be decisive in determining the degree to which gloves were worn off were selected. They are: breakthrough time of a chemical, permeation rate of a chemical, puncture resistance, abrasion, tear resistance, tensile properties, thickness and mass.Assessment of the efficiency of gloves that has been suggested differs from the method of testing and assessment described in the currently binding European standards, which only cover the process of the permeation of chemical substances through the tested materials in standard conditions. However, they do not cover degradation or factors present during use, e.g., higher temperature in which permeation takes place, repeated contact of the material with a harmful factor.

Unit: Department of Personal Protective Equipment

Duration: 01.05.2003 – 30.11.2004