Hi all, Im looking for some advice and information on flouroelastomer gloves. We carry out servicing of vehicles including the air conditioning system. We are approved by a vehicle manufacturer who provide our technicians with approved training. They have stipulated we must supply our vehicle technicians with flouroelastomer gloves which must be worn when servicing and maintaining vehicle air con systems. They stipulated this is actually a legal requirement. From where I asked..............!? I have looked at various HSE docs relating to vehicle air con systems - none of which mention wearing the specific glove mentioned above. Also, I have the MSDS for the product which also doesnt mention it either. I did find an online store selling these gloves and they hinted it was also a legal requirement. Given that the refrigerant gas (R134a) can cause serious skin burns I would therefore assume these gloves protect the user from cold burns while maintaining their structure/protection. Is anyone on the forum familiar with this product, air conditioning systems and/or the gloves. Thanks

I am not aware of any 'legal' requirement about any specific glove. Which glove you choose will depend upon your risk assessment and the need to manage exposure. The selection of the correct glove will be influenced by factors such as the nature of the chemical (and in particular mixtures), extent and duration of exposure, temperature, etc. On occasions, in order to ensure adequate control by the use of gloves it may be necessary to carry out in-use tests, which can be done. Chris

To add to my previous posting, there is a legal requirement to specify the correct glove in the safety data sheet. Given that the supplier will have no direct knowledge of the conditions under which the gloves will be used this is very difficult for the supplier to do. What they tend to do is to specify "suitable", "chemical resistant", etc. gloves. If they do specify a material then they tend to indicate the glove with the highest performance against the particular chemical. This may be appropriate or, given particular circumstances, total overkill. As already stated, it depends upon the conditions under which the glove is to be used. I have seen a recommendation for a glove costing £15 per pair for a particular chemical, whereas a glove costing around £1 would have provided adequate protection, given the circumstances.

There is no direct prescrptive legislation linking use/handling of a particular "chemical" with any glove material. COSHH requires employers to:assess risks; provide adequate control measures and ensure their use and maintenance; provide information, instruction and training; provide health surveillance in appropriate cases. PPE including gloves are part of adequate control ( there is also a hierachy of control measures) The following HSE website links may help:- Choosing the right gloves to protect skin: a guide for employers-Protecting against substances in the workplace:- http://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/gloves.htm It appears that the flouroelastomer gloves are being either recommended or in some instances referred to as a legal requirement as it appear to be one of the suitable gloves (but not the only one!) for a range of activities related to car-air-conditioning systems:- The following either recommend or mislead by stating the term legal requirement! http://www.fordscorpio.c...al/aircon/safetyregs.pdf http://www.vehvac.com/wo...quipment_and_accessories http://www.sba.co.uk/pro...ves-to-en374-adefgjkl-s1 http://www.motor.org.uk/...0Dec%20Jan%20TT%2009.pdf Unfortunately, this aspect has not been fully identified and dealt with by either by Lord Young or Lofstedt--i.e how much of this type of misleading etc is created by the unscrouplous elements in the Health & Safety supply industry, mainly for safety & Fire signs/poserrs and a whole range of PPE that ultimately ends up as "burden" to business.

MSDS's for substances or mixtures containing substances that have been fully registered under REACH will require inclusion of, amongst other aspects, : • Exposure scenarios including any risk management measures required, in an Annex to the SDS. The information in the SDS should be consistent with the information in the e chemical safety report (CSR) for that substance, or a mixture if a chemical safety assessment (CSA) for the mixture is available. The risk management measures will include PPE and for gloves, the type of glove material suitable for the substance/mixture. Registration deadlines were/are based on manufacturing/supply tonnage thresholds and it includes subtances/misxtures that need not be Substances of Very High Concern - SVHC. The most critical aspect in relation to SVHCs is that some may need to be authorised for specific uses and are part of Annex XIV. The first list of substances subject to authorisation (known as Annex XIV) was published in February 2011 and this list was further expanded in February 2012.