Does anyone know where I can find easy to understand guidance on ‘layering’ of gloves ? I’m currently involved in the selection of gloves for offshore workers who are applying a variety of paints / coatings to metal structures. Sometimes the workers have a practice of simultaneously wearing two different types of gloves, one on top of the other. The reasons they give for this is twofold: firstly they think it gives them better protection from the chemicals, and secondly it helps to keep their hands warm during the winter weather. However, I’ve heard that ‘layering’ gloves in this manner can sometimes increase the risk of chemical breakthrough, particularly when the top pair of gloves is a pair similar to Hyd Tuff. I suspect the reasoning here is that the top pair of gloves might absorb the paint, which then rests directly on top of the bottom pair, eg nitrile gloves, and therefore makes the nitrile gloves more prone to breakthrough. Some of the products used contain skin sensitisers so I’m keen to find some easy to understand guidance or research on the subject of glove ‘layering’ so I can help improve the workers understanding (and mine !!) of the issues involved and how to stay safe. Does anyone have such guidance or know where I can find it ?

Layering of gloves can be useful, for example where there are both physical and chemical hazards. The physical protection worn outside the chemical protection will help prevent damage to the inner gloves which would result in exposure. The whole topic of selection and use of gloves for chemical protection is complex. Be aware that the manufacturers' published performance date (permeation breakthrough times) are based on a (flawed) laboratory test and will almost certainly not reflect what you will achieve in practice. Mixtures can significantly alter the performance data. For example a particular glove tested against toluene and methanol individually showed permeation breakthrough for each in excess of 240 minutes. However, when mixed 1:1 the permeation breakthrough time was reduced to 9 minutes! If you need more on this the most comprehensive work on this that I know of is "Protective Gloves for Occupational Use", Bomana, Estlander, Wahlberg, Maibach (eds), CRC Press, ISBN 0-8493-1558-1. Chris