WHY ARE NITRILE GLOVES IMPORTANT IN A LAB?

Wearing gloves protects the skin against absorption of chemicals, lacerations, chemical burns, thermal burns, and cryogenic liquid exposure. Therefore, determining the proper hand protection can be a daunting task in a laboratory environment.

It’s essential to wear nitrile gloves when working with hazardous materials, corrosive materials, rough or sharp-edged objects, chemicals of unknown toxicity, and materials of high and low temperatures. Therefore, neoprene or disposable nitrile gloves are ideal for protecting from accidental splashes and lab chemicals.
Furthermore, for lab assistants working with corrosives in high concentrations, handling chemicals for extended periods, or chemicals with high acute toxicity, the suitable material for gloves get based on task and chemical compatibility.

Selecting Gloves

Before purchasing a glove, try considering the following aspects:

• permeation rate
• Degradation time
• breakthrough time

Permeation rate

The rate of test chemicals passing through the material of gloves after the breakthrough has happened, and extended equilibrium is the permeation rate of a glove. Furthermore, it involves absorbing chemicals on the glove surface, diffusion, and desorption of the inside chemical of the glove. Also, remember that if a chemical breakthrough does not occur in a glove, the permeation rate is not measured.

Degradation

It refers to the changing of the physical properties of a glove when it comes into contact with chemicals. You can identify how Degradation appears when the glove starts to harden, stiffen, shrink, swell, and crack. Degradation rate is crucial because it helps determine how well a glove can endure when exposed to chemical contact.

Breakthrough time

The passing time between the prime contact of test chemicals on the glove’s surface while also determining the analytics of the chemical present inside the gloves is known as breakthrough time.

Furthermore, glove manufacturers stress that gloves get tested under laboratory conditions. However, this fact can significantly vary depending on actual work environments.

We recommend choosing gloves based on the shortest breakthrough time for higher efficiency.
Below are some gloves and their uses in the lab and in general for better understanding.

TYPES OF GLOVES AND THEIR USES

NITRILE

These make excellent general-duty gloves for lab assistants. Also, it offers protection from a wide range of chemical solvents, petroleum, oils, etc. Moreover, nitrile is ideal for cuts, snags, abrasions, etc.

BUTYL

This material offers the highest permeation resistance by most water vapors and gas. Perfect for using ketones and esters.

PVC

It is an excellent abrasion-resistant material and offers a high level of protection from acids, fats, and petroleum hydrocarbons.

NEOPRENE

They provide excellent tensile strength but are moderately resistant to abrasions. Furthermore, they’re compatible with a bunch of acids.

VITON

These materials are exceptionally resistant to chlorine and aromatic solvents. Moreover, they also protect from cuts and abrasions with a good amount.

PVA

Highly impermeable towards all kinds of gases while also providing a high-quality barrier from chlorinated and aromatic solvents. However, these gloves cannot get used in water-based conditions.

Natural Rubber

One of the most flexible materials for gloves while also focusing on protecting from essential chemical solutions, a variety of acids, salts, and caustics.

Silver Shield

It provides the highest level of overall chemical protection among other glove materials.

Additional Glove Considerations:

In case of fine skill that you’re unable to achieve from a single product glove, we suggest doubling the action. In simple words, wear double gloves with a slightly low compatibility factor. Be sure to immediately remove the upper glove if you see any signs of contaminations. For instance, it’s permissible to wear a more tight-fitting glove over it with silver shield gloves to increase agility.

Glove thickness

It is a crucial consideration factor that many people opt to ignore. However, the thickness of the gloves largely contributes to the breakthrough time. Thinner gloves offer better touchscreen sensitivity yet lower breakthrough time. Similarly, thicker density gloves offer more breakthroughs with quadruple effects.

Glove length

It depends on the arm’s size that is likely to be involved in immersion and chemical activity. Generally, 14-inch gloves provide a higher level of resistant barriers than other lengths.
Glove size; One size doesn’t always fit all, therefore, identifying the right size of glove is a crucial need for every lab assistant. Gloves should not be too tight or too loose; rather, just right. Hence, we suggest looking out for details, lining, texture, beaded cuffs, etc., before purchasing or wearing them for the task.

USE, CARE, AND INSPECTION OF GLOVES

Before we end our blog, here are tips for glove inspection, uses, and care that everyone should follow for best hygiene purposes.

• Inspect gloves for puncture or degradation signs before use.
• Run a test for pinholes by blowing or trapping air inside and rolling them.
• Do not fill them with water.
• Change disposable gloves when they get contaminated.
• Frequently wash reusable gloves if need to extend them for long.
• Avoid wearing gloves outside of the laboratory.
• For transporting lab products to other support areas, utilize carts.
• Avoid wearing gloves for hand-carrying packages, If they don’t contain any harmful chemicals or toxic solvents.
• Be careful not to touch anything but the products involved in the process while wearing gloves.
• Touching equipment, phones, wastebaskets, or other surfaces with chemical gloves may cause contamination.
• Resist touching your clothes, hair, and face as well.
• Wash the outside of the glove before removing them.
• Remove the first glove by pulling the cuff and sliding the glove off the hand so that the glove is inside out to avoid accidental skin exposure. Repeat this process with the second hand.
• Wash hands with soap and water immediately.
• Follow the manufacturer’s guide for caring for and washing reusable gloves.

Proper Glove Removal

Gloves should get removed by avoiding skin contact as much as possible to reduce the chances of contamination. You can remove disposable gloves as follows.

• Grab the outer part of your glove with your other hand.
• Carefully pull and slide the glove off your hand; make sure to turn it inside-out.
• Roll or discard the glove.
• While you avoid touching the exterior, slide your free finger into the opening of the other glove.
• Pull the glove off your hand carefully and turn it inside out, so the contamination is on the inside.
• Dispose of it correctly.

Above all, gloves play a vital role in offering security amidst emergencies and handling complex activities. Hence, having access to premium quality products is a must. Therefore, retailers can now bulk buy top-notch gloves from renowned brands such as Unigloves right here at UK HUB Central. We offer our clients hefty profit margins compared to the rest of the market. So, if you’re interested in buying gloves that deliver results accordingly head on over to our website or reach out on our email at info@theukhub.com.