Hi All, The company I work for operates a busy CNC area. We have in the past had a few accidents when handling swarf that have required a few stitches to the fingers of operators. We have also historically had a few cases of contact dermatits from the metal working fluid. The MSDS for the metal working fluid has an R phrase of R36/38 showing that the substance is irritating to eyes and skin and contact should be avoided. I am looking at glove protection for this area, I am obviously aware that gloves should be avoided around manual lathes and spinning chucks, however the CNC machines are enclosed and controlled via interlocks that this would not be an issue. We would only look at this protection for use on certain machines. I am ideally looking for a glove that have a degree of mechanical protection against cuts from swarf but also chemical protection against the metal working fluid, whilst being dextrous enough that the operators can use measuirng equipment without the need to remove the glove. A big ask I know! My ideas at the moment are a cut protective liner followed up with a nitrile glove - my only concern here is that the nitrile glove will tear when handling billets whcih may cause the liner to get wet with metal working fluid. If anybody has any ideas or better still experience of hand protection against chemical an physical hazards of CNC machining, this would be much appreciated. Thanks very much!

Not an uncommon problem. Double gloving, as you suggest, is frequently the only solution. The issue then is to ensure adequate dexterity whilst also providing chemical protection. Furthermore, the long term wearing of occlusive gloves can also result in skin damage and irritant contact dermatitis. If double gloving, the chemical protective glove must be worn inside the physical protective glove, otherwise it will quickly become damaged with the result that the skin inside the glove will be at greater risk of damage than were no glove to be worn at all. There are relatively thin gloves that can provide adequate protection against the type of hazard represented by swarf, thus maintaining adequate dexterity. Chris

I don't think you need gloves, I think you need to stop your people handling swarf. Tools, tongs, sticks, brushes, whatever. Reprogramming CNC to stop (e.g. at tool change) to allow swarf clearance if the process is generating a build-up, but handling swarf- no thanks.

I used to work as a QC Inspector in a very busy machine shop so i know the problem you are up against. What we did was source 3 different types of Kevlar gloves and got the guys to give feedback on which were the best. Once chosen, nitrile gloves were used if required although a lot of the guys preferred to use barrier cream instead as thet didn't think the 2 glove approach was comfortable. These measures certainly had a positive impact and reduced the number of cut fingers/hands.

Also if you approach your PPE supplier they might be able to get the manufacturers in to carry out a free survey - we have already had one manufacturer in and have a second in tomorrow. Oh and the first one left me with a large box full of samples to try :-) PM me if you want the name of the manufacturer. HTH Stuart

Hi With regard to glove protection:- The company I recently moved to used a generic glove in our production / warehousing departments. It soon became abundantly clear that these gloves were not suitable for all applications, so I contacted a major glove supplier who sent one of their representatives in to establish our needs and to conduct glove trials, he also did some presentations to the workforce of the importance of correct P.P.E. All this was free of charge, it was up to you if you used them as your future supplier. Having said all this, from your comments I feel you may have other issues that may require other solutions rather than P.P.E.. steve w

Just to add a further word of caution on the selection and use of gloves for chemical protection. Most manufacturers' data on permeation breakthrough relates only to tests performed on single substances. With mixtures the permeation breakthrough time can be very different. For example, one glove that provided in excess of 240 minutes permeation breakthrough time for each of toluene and methyl ethyl ketone provided only 9 minutes breakthrough time when these were mixed 1:1. There are many other factors (Temperature, degradation, flexing, abrasion, ageing, etc.) that influence how long a glove will provide protection and there is no simple method for combining these. This topic is covered in some depth in chapter 18 of the book "Protective Gloves for Occupational Use". Chris