How to Choose the Best Work Glove for the Job

Parts of a Work Glove

Below are the four main parts of a work glove that provide protection to the hands and wrists:

1. Palm Coating: The palm coating of a work glove plays a crucial role in providing grip, protection, and durability.

2. Shell Material: The shell material of a work glove determines its overall durability, comfort, and protection level. Common shell materials include cotton, nylon, leather, and polyester.

3. Cuff: The cuff of a work glove secures the glove on the hand and prevents debris from entering. There are different cuff styles available, including knit wrists, safety cuffs, and gauntlet cuffs.

4. Thermo-Plastic Rubber (TPR): TPR is an additional form of protection that you may find in certain gloves to offer further cushioning during tough jobs. It is a light weight and flexible material that can absorb and disperse impact energy, reducing the risk of hand injuries. Work gloves with TPR reinforcements on the knuckles, fingers, and back of the glove offer enhanced protection in high-impact environments. TPR enhances grip and dexterity, allowing users to maintain control while handling tools and equipment.

Work Glove Palm Coating

There are various types of palm coatings that you may find on a glove, each providing a different type of additional protection for the user. These coatings serve as additional layers to ensure safety while maintaining the flexibility traditionally found in the glove shell's material.

• Canvas: Work gloves with a canvas palm coating are light weight and breathable. They are durable and provide some protection but are best suited for general-purpose tasks.
• Latex: A latex palm coating provides an excellent grip in dry conditions and is resistant to liquids and chemicals.
• Leather: A leather palm coating offers superior durability and abrasion resistance, and it is often found on work gloves suitable for heavy-duty tasks such as construction, welding, and landscaping. The leather coating can come in pigskin, which provides maximum breathability and remains soft and pliant when wet, cowhide, which offers protection against abrasions while remaining flexible, or goat skin, which provides tactile sensitivity while remaining soft and pliable.
• Nitrile: Nitrile-coated work gloves protect against abrasions, snags, punctures, and cuts while resisting oils and solvents. They are popular for industrial applications that handle sharp objects or hazardous materials.
• Polyurethane: Polyurethane-coated work gloves provide a good grip and tactile sensitivity, making them ideal for precision work such as assembly, electronics, and inspection tasks. They also resist oils, solvents, gasoline, and oxidation.
• PVC: PVC-coated work gloves provide excellent flexibility and a firm grip in wet or oily applications. They offer excellent resistance to abrasions, chemicals, and oils, making them suitable for tasks that require protection against harsh environments.

Work Glove Cuff Styles

There are various glove cuff styles to protect and support your wrists while working. For your safety and your ease of use, it's important to consider if the cuff on your glove is designed for the task you are working on.

• Safety Cuff: Often found on leather gloves, safety cuffs have a loose fit with a slit on the side to make it easy for users to remove in the case of an emergency.
• Knit Wrist Cuff: Typically found on sting knits, leather, or cotton gloves, knit wrist cuffs provide a firm grip on the wearer's wrist to reduce glove movement and prevent dirt from entering the glove.
• Gauntlet Cuff: Often found on leather gloves, gauntlet cuffs have a loose fit to allow airflow into the glove. They are longer than safety cuffs, providing additional wrist and forearm protection.
• Slip-On Cuff: Found on leather gloves or jersey-lined gloves, slip-on cuffs feature a seamless design between glove and cuff. This allows the glove to be quickly and easily removed in the case of an emergency.
• Hook and Loop Cuff: Ideal for landscaping jobs, hook and loop cuffs allow you to tighten the cuff on your wrist to prevent dirt from entering the glove.
• Band Top Cuff: Typically found on cotton canvas gloves, band top cuffs protect the wrist while providing ventilation and quick removal.

Work Glove Protection and CE Standard EN 388

To determine if the glove you purchase will provide the industry standard of protection against abrasions, cuts, tears, and punctures, and to determine the difference between the different levels of protection, the CE Standard EN 388 provides a ranking system. The CE mark rates four types of threats to determine how protective the glove may be against the threat. The four types of threats and their tests are:

• The Abrasion Test: 180 grit sandpaper is rubbed in a circular motion over the surface of the glove, and the number of cycles taken to break through the material determines the ranking on a scale of 1 - 4.
• The Cut Test: A circular blade rotates forward and backward over the material, and a ranking on a scale of 1 - 5 is determined based on the number of strokes taken across the fabric. An additional test may be given if the material scores above a ranking of 3, in which a straight blade is run along the fabric. This rating system is ranked on a letter system, from A - F.
• The Tear Test: A tensometer machine pulls a sample of the material apart, providing a rating on a scale of 1 - 4 to determine how much force was required before the material tore apart.
• The Puncture Test: A rounded stylus is forced through the glove material at a regulated speed. The amount of force taken to break through the fabric determines the rating on a scale of 1 - 4.

The higher the score on any test, the more protective the glove is. A glove will show its rating as a series of the four numbers; for example, if a glove showed a CE rating of 3542, it would have gotten a rating of 3 on the abrasion test, 5 on the cut test, 4 on the tear test, and 2 on the puncture test. To ensure your glove is fitting the safety standards needed for your daily tasks, be sure to pay close attention to the CE ratings, as well as any ANSI level information.