Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Personal protective equipment (PPE) includes all clothing and other work accessories designed to create a barrier against workplace hazards. Precautions should be taken to avoid exposure by contact with skin and eyes, inhalation and ingestion.
Hand Protection
The correct gloves protect the hand against hazardous chemicals, sharp edged objects and very hot or cold materials. The wrong gloves can actually enhance exposure to toxic chemicals.
- Check gloves before use for worn spots, cracks or other signs of wear.
- When removing gloves, be careful to avoid touching the outside of the glove with your bare skin.
- Do not touch doorknobs, light switches, telephones, computer keyboards with possibly contaminated gloves.
- Replace gloves periodically, depending on the frequency of use and their permeation and degredation characteristics relative to the substances being handled.
- Always remove gloves (and other protective gear) before leaving the laboratory.
Click here for HSU's Glove Guide
Glove compatibility guides from many manufacturers are available on the World Wide Web. Note that each manufacturer recommendation is explicitly for use of their own gloves. The following is a partial list of useful Internet accessible glove compatibility guides (remember that Web servers change addresses frequently, if you don't have success at one site, try another.):
http://www.bestglove.com/
http://www-ehs.ucdavis.edu/sftynet/sn-50.html
http://www.inform.umd.edu/DES/ls/gloves.html
http://www.ehs.psu.edu/labsafety/gloves.html
http://www.orcbs.msu.edu/chemical/glove_guide/glove_guide_master.htm
http://www.labsafety.com/refinfo/ezfacts/ezpdf/ez166.pdf
http://www.ansellpro.com
Do you know of any sites that have good PPE or chemical information? If so please e-mail me and let me know.