Avoiding reactions to gloves
The choice of glove for your production area is profuse. Commonly the thickness, colour, and material type are considered to suit your task and ingredients. But have you considered your staff's comfort?
For most staff, gloves are a non-negotiable part of their uniform. For others, however, gloves cause serious discomfort.
The most frequent complaint of reaction to gloves occurs with natural latex gloves. This allergic reaction can include rashes, blisters, and itchiness, or in severe cases – anaphylaxis.
While a rash may seem a minor complaint, reactions often intensify with continued use. There have also been situations where allergic reactions have developed over time. Skin reactions cause serious discomfort and pain to employees and can impact their ability to perform tasks.
As part of your duty of care, it is important to provide staff with a safe and harm-free environment- this, of course, cannot compromise your hygiene standards across your site.
Here are a few alternatives you could trial:
- Silver-lined nitrile (offering the same smooth interior and thickness of easy donning but not the latex material)
- A cotton glove under the glove (only advisable if reactions are mild)
- Accelerator-free gloves.
While latex gloves cause the majority of complaints – reactions to latex-free gloves can occur. In this case, your staff would most likely be reacting to the accelerator within the glove.
What is an accelerator? One of the methods used to reduce the cost of manufacturing gloves, is adding accelerators. Accelerators speed up the curing process of glove manufacturing. This results in gloves being made quicker, allowing manufacturers to reduce the cost of the gloves.
However, while accelerators may be advantageous from a cost perspective, they can cause allergic reactions for some wearers.
If you have complaints about latex-free gloves – it is advisable to ask your supplier to sample tri-free gloves. Tri-free gloves are made without the three most common allergy-causing accelerators. Click here to view some options.
Gloves are an indispensable part of food processing, and so is finding the right solution for your employees, ingredients and to meet your QA approvals.
