Posted By Brett Day We changed to nitrile gloves on the advice of the manufacturer for an emoployee with allergies, they did sound a note of caution and recommended that if the gloves were worn constantly the wearers could get a 'sweat rash' so recommended that they were worn for a maximum of one hour, gloves of, hands dried properly and allowed to 'breathe' for 15 minutes minimum. Hope that helps

Posted By Joe Paterson Hi Jay Concerns were raised within NHS Scotland some time back in relation to this issue, Guidance was issued by Scottish Health Care Supplies to NHS Scotland You should be able to access that from their web site or contact by telephone. I would assume that the suppliers to other NHS bodies within the UK would also have the information.

Posted By Jay Joshi Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I have now got hold of the glove MSDS. This particular brand has got - Zinc mercaptobenzothiazole and - Zinc dibutyldithiocarbamate as Hazardous ingredients -listed that these may cause irritation etc to some individuals. However, we have been using these gloves since last several years, handling the same range of chemicals with same persons--and did not have problems. Have contacted the maufacturers rep who has agreed to carry out testing for the lot with us. We are not in a medical/NHS setting, but a research and development lab setting, typically handling diesel, fuel oils and solvents. It is just that whereas there is significant information about latex allergy--there is not much about other glove materials

Posted By John Webster This is now recognised in the NHS (the biggest user of this type of glove). In the rush to become latex free, we have replaced one problem with another. Granted, contact dermatitis is treatable, whereas latex sensitivity is for life. The culprit is accelerators used in the manufacture of many types of nitrile gloves. Improved, residual accelerator free formulations are now available, so check with your supplier and get samples of several types for those affected to try. For sterile surgical gloves, the latex free alternatives are still in short supply. The NHS in Scotland has made a policy decision to go latex free. This is not supported in other EU countries such as Germany & France where the move is towards low allergen, powder free latex gloves. So for other business sectors, these could still be considered for users with no history of allergies and backed up with appropriate health surveillance.