Selecting PPE: Hand Protection

Gloves should be selected for each procedure to provide protection from the hazards. In some circumstances there may be several hazards and glove selection may involve different gloves for different steps of the procedure and/or several layers of gloves may be needed to address all hazards.

PPE	SPECIFIC TYPE	CHARACTERISTICS	APPLICATIONS
Disposable Gloves	Disposable latex gloves	Powdered or un-powdered; some chemical-resistance-consult glove resistant chart-incidental contact only	Working with non-hazardous chemicals or materials
Disposable Gloves	Disposable nitrile gloves	Some chemical resistant-consult glove resistant chart; incidental chemical contact only	Working with chemical hazards of small quantity.
Leather Gloves		Protect and comfort hands form moderate temperatures, sharps objects, damage by friction	Handling sharp objects
Wire Mesh Gloves		Cut resistant	Working with sharp instruments

Chemical Resistant Gloves	Natural rubber latex	Good resistance to water-based materials, poor organic solvent resistance-Consult glove resistance chart	Working with small volumes of aqueous-based low hazard chemicals.
	Nitrile gloves	Chemical resistant for incidental contact-consult glove resistance chart	Working with larger volumes of chemicals
	Butyl gloves	Generally good chemical resistance to many chemicals-consult glove resistance chart	Working with larger volumes of chemicals, hazardous material spills
	Viton II gloves	Generally good chemical resistance to many chemicals-consult glove resistance chart	Working with larger volumes of chemicals, hazardous material spills
	Silver shield gloves	Generally good chemical resistance to many chemicals-consult glove resistance chart. May need over glove for manual dexterity	Working with larger volumes of chemicals, hazardous material spills, good resistance to methylene chloride (dichloromethane)