Page 82 - Occupational Health & Safety, June 2018

HAND PROTECTION
Helping Hands Keep Their Cool
As new technology and ideas develop, you’ll begin to see many different combinations as customers think about what works best for their applications and ask for it in the marketplace.
BY M.B. SUTHERLAND
By now, we all know the statistics that tell us the primary reason workers remove their gloves is discomfort. And while this is a year-round “indoor” problem, the sum-
mer months and the heat that comes with them be- come another obstacle to keeping people protected. Trapped heat, sweaty skin, and contact dermatitis are all side effects of keeping traditional gloves on hard working hands.
Three Keys to Cooler Hands
Workers are driven to take their gloves off to air and cool their hands and to let some of the moisture that’s been trapped inside their gloves evaporate. But what if we could design hand protection that lets those things happen continuously, without removing the gloves?
Three significant factors for heat relief are:
■ Air permeability,
■ Sensory cooling, and
■ Moisture management.
Air Permeability
Air permeability is a measure of how easily air passes through a material. For example, mesh is very porous with high air permeability and leather is a denser ma- terial with low air permeability. So while we know workers love their leather drivers, this is a glove you’ll often see coming off for relief between tasks. And once the glove is off, it’s easy for workers to leave that glove off and work unprotected.
For years, safety clothing manufacturers have been using thicker material for areas that need protection while employing mesh material for areas that are not at risk, to make a cooler overall garment. A good ex- ample is a welding jacket with a traditional heat-resis- tant front paired with a mesh back to allow air to flow around the worker’s skin and let heat escape.
Manufacturers have adopted this concept for air flow within gloves. This takes different forms, de- pending on the type of glove:
■ Cut-resistant work gloves. Air-permeable work gloves can now be made with traditional palm materi- als such as leather with a cut-resistant liner, but with the addition of a mesh back to create a cooler glove with protection where it’s needed.
■ Impact-resistant gloves. For impact-resistant gloves, air-permeable designs can include vented ma- terial underneath the TPR on the back of the hand, as well as venting in the TPR itself. This provides the same protection from impacts, while allowing air to flow into the glove to keep hands cooler.
Custom glove manufacturers can often make whatever combination of these features you may need—for example, an impact glove with a cut-resis- tant-lined leather palm, cut-resistant mesh back, and vented TPR. So as new technology and ideas develop, you’ll begin to see many different combinations as customers think about what works best for their ap- plications and ask for it in the marketplace.
Sensory Cooling
Sensory cooling is the ability of some fibers to induce a sensation of coolness on the skin. These fibers trig- ger cold receptors in the nerve endings near skin’s surface, making the wearer more comfortable just by
78 Occupational Health & Safety | JUNE 2018
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