A Colourful Solution To The Problem Of Work Gloves

by annvandenborne

Considering that work gloves are one of the most essential health and safety items of protection in many workplaces it is surprising that until fairly recently very little consideration was given to one of the main problems facing businesses and organisations.

In a world which is increasingly conscious of the need to ensure that health and safety is always considered in any potentially dangerous or risky situation, work gloves have been one particular area which has received a great deal of attention over the last few years. With advances in manufacturing techniques, and the development of new materials and fabrics, the range of safety gloves available today has never been wider.

It was realised that there was a huge range of risks to people’s hands, but a relatively limited range of safety gloves offering protection. As a result businesses and employees were faced with a compromise between overprotecting hands, resulting in discomfort and restricted movement, or overprotecting hands, with all of the implicit risks such a decision offers. It was realised that in most situations where there is a degree of risk to the hands, it is rarely the entire hand which is at risk, and it therefore makes sense for work gloves to offer an appropriate level of protection, and over the appropriate portion or portions of the hand.

Clearly the risk from a craft knife is significantly less than the risk from an industrial cutting machine, just as the portion of the hand most at risk when dealing with rough or abrasive materials is entirely different to the portion of the hand at risk from cutting tools or cutting machines. So manufacturers of work gloves developed an increasingly broad range of safety gloves which took on board this greater understanding of the need to provide only the level of protection needed, and only in those areas necessary.

With new materials and better manufacturing methods this range of gloves has continued to rise. It might be assumed that this is all good news, and certainly it is, but only to a point. Because with an ever-growing range of work gloves to choose from, it can often be difficult or impossible for staff to know for certain which type of safety gloves they will need to wear for a particular task, environment, or tool.

Health and safety policies may well include what could be assumed to be sufficient documentation, copies of which may be posted in relevant areas and by relevant machines or tools, but often this can be more confusing than anything else. It should also be remembered that as a growing proportion of the working population in the UK speaks English as a second language, detailed documentation is almost certainly going to be misunderstood in many cases. This is likely to lead to people making assumptions or guessing, and where the safety of the hands is concerned, guesswork is certainly not to be advised.

In cases where an accident has happened to the hands as a result of the wrong type of work gloves being worn, the legal responsibility has rested with the employer in almost every case, leading to an expensive litigation suit.

Traffiglove have introduced a range of work gloves aimed at overcoming this growing problem. The clue to their simple but highly effective solution is in their name, because what Traffiglove has done is to introduce colour-coded work gloves for easy identification. Using a simple and easy to identify colour coding system, staff can choose the appropriate Traffiglove to wear for a particular task by matching it with colour-coded symbols or markers on equipment or areas. Red Traffigloves provide the lowest level of risk protection, with Amber Traffigloves providing a medium level of protection, and green Traffigloves offering the maximum protection for high risk activities or tasks.