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Work gloves are essential protective gear in the workshop. They protect your hands from dirt, hazardous chemicals, and unsightly stains. Work gloves also protect your hands from injuries when working with tools.
But do you know there are circumstances when it is unsafe to wear gloves when operating some tools and machinery?
In this article, we explore some of the tools and machinery that are safer to operate without hand gloves. But first, what are work gloves?
Why Wear Work Gloves?
Work gloves are a type of protective handwear designed to provide safety and functionality in various work environments. They are typically made from durable materials such as leather, synthetic fibers, or a combination of both.
6 Reasons for Wearing Work Gloves
You wear work gloves for various reasons including:
1. Hand Injury Protection
The number one reason for wearing work gloves is to protect your hands from harm. Work gloves protect against injuries caused by sharp objects, rough surfaces, abrasions, cuts, punctures, and impact hazards. They act as a barrier between the hands and potential sources of harm.
2. Enhance Grip
You can wear gloves to enhance grip on smooth surfaces. Many work gloves are designed with textured surfaces or coatings that enhance grip and dexterity. This allows you to handle tools, machinery, and objects with better control and precision.
3. Heat and Cold Protection
If your work involves touching surfaces that can become extremely cold or hot, you should wear insulative work gloves. Insulative gloves are specifically designed to provide thermal insulation, protecting the hands from heat and ice burns.
4. Chemical and Hazardous Material Protection
Work gloves made from specialized materials, such as nitrile, neoprene, or rubber prevent your hands from coming into direct contact with hazardous chemicals, acids, solvents, fuels, and other harmful substances.
As a mechanic, I wear nitrile gloves in the garage to avoid direct contact with gasoline, grease, oil, and other solvents when fixing cars.
5. Hygiene and Contamination Control
In certain industries, such as healthcare and food handling, work gloves are worn to maintain hygiene standards, prevent contamination, and ensure the safety of both workers and the products they handle.
6. Hand Comfort and Ergonomics
Most work gloves are designed with comfort in mind. They have features such as breathable fabrics, adjustable closures, and ergonomic shapes to minimize hand fatigue and maximize your comfort during extended use.
The work gloves you choose depend on the nature of the work you want to perform, the potential hazards involved, and any applicable safety regulations or standards.
When Should You Not Wear Work Gloves?
Although work gloves offer numerous safety benefits in the workshop, there are times when wearing them can put your hand at a greater risk. One of those times is when working with machines or power tools that have spinning or rotating parts.
The moving parts of a tool or machinery can easily catch your gloves and trap your hands, resulting in serious injuries.
Similarly, any loose clothing such as your shirt or apron can also create the same danger. That is why you should fold the sleeves of your shirt when working with a table saw.
Some of the common workshop tools you should not operate with gloves on include table saws, circular saws, and any power tool with a spinning blade.
Other tools you should avoid handling with gloves are drilling tools. They include power hand drills and larger drilling machines such as the drill press.
Conclusion
So, there you have it!
Work gloves can sometimes put you at a greater risk of bad injuries in the workshop or job site. So, remember to give them a break when working with power tools such as table saws, circular saws, planers, drills, routers, etc.
You don’t want your hand to get trapped in a spinning blade or drill just because of wearing gloves. It is better to deal with light bruises and scrapes from flying burrs and splinters than to sustain deep cuts or lose your fingers as a result of glove entanglement.
That being said, always remain alert and keep those fingers safe! Use safety jigs when necessary such as a push stick/block when pushing stock through the table saw blade.
