Cut-resistant gloves in a left-field practical test

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OH&S expert Col Finnie of fini:OHS decided to put cut-resistant gloves to the test as part of his look at safety reviews for members of the Australian Accident Repair Network (AARN). These are his thoughts.

A while ago one of AARN’s corporate sponsors, Stork AWD, advertised in the AARN e-newsletter that it had begun to stock Trade Haus Sure Grip CR 10 cut-resistant gloves.

During my safety reviews for AARN members, cuts to hands are often mentioned as a common injury. I thought it would be good to test out the Sure Grips.  

Cuts and nicks shouldn’t be treated as “just one of those things”. The nature of panel shop work means there is too much opportunity for that small cut to get infected, to be a pathway for chemicals, or to be flippant about it being “just a cut”.   

So I contacted Stork AWD and was offered a pair of the Sure Grips for a field test.  

And since I ain’t a panel beater, I gave the gloves a go in a work environment that I knew would involve lots of handling of torn, ripped and rusty iron, general rubbish removal and on occasions, having to manipulate nails, nuts, bolts and general repair work.

The job I had in mind for testing the gloves was in fact a big rubbish removal and maintenance job up at my father’s place in the bush. I thought that would be a range of work that would test out the general usefulness of these type of gloves.

Standard hand protection had been leather riggers gloves, which are pretty good for stopping cuts and nicks, but not much chop when, as happens a lot in this work, a bit of repair work has to be done involving manipulating tools or nailing jobs.

The end result? The Sure Grips came through with flying colours.

The nitrile under-surface certainly did provide a “sure grip”, an important factor in keeping a good hold on stuff that has a sharp edge. The nitrile material in the gloves also clearly did its job of resisting cuts. Gal iron sheet edges, barbed wire and broken glass were all  handled with confidence and no break-through.

I did find that mongrel blackberry thorns will puncture the nitrile, but those damn things are very fine so it’s a big ask to stop break-through with those.

From the “after” shot (top) you can see the under-surface was still in good condition after five days of work.  

Just as importantly, I decided to keep the gloves on for all sorts of other jobs. And that included doing a bit of carpentry work: feeling for nails in a nail pouch, manipulating pliers, that sort of thing.

I didn’t have to take the gloves off to these because they are thin enough to allow good sensitivity through the protective surface.

All in all I reckon these gloves are top notch and I’d recommend you consider trialling them in your workshop.

There are lots of different brands of cut-resistant gloves on the market and you might want to try other brands, but I can say that the Sure Grips did everything I expected them to do.  

But remember that with any personal protective equipment (PPE) you have to be sure there is a likelihood the workers given the gear will use it.

Fit and practicality of the PPE is something you should get feedback on. Too often people think it’s only necessary to “do the right thing” and supply the PPE.

Wrong. Wherever possible you should give your workers the opportunity to decide if the PPE is, within reason, fit for the purpose.

There are limits of course: it’s rare for any PPE not to create some inconvenience. But it’s important to make sure your workers reckon they find the PPE up to the job, particularly in terms of them being able to do the work they need to do when using the PPE.

Some inconvenience has to be “sucked up”, but if the PPE makes it all but impossible to do the work needed you can bet that your investment in the PPE will be wasted because it just won’t end up being used.

For the record, although I was given the gloves to trial for free, there is and will be no commercial relationship between Stork AWD and me. This test was about working out whether the gloves could be the go for AARN members’ workers, no more, no less.

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