Posted By Chris Packham Jason All gloves provided as protection have to meet EN420 - General requirements for gloves. The only exceptions are insulating protective gloves for working with electricity and medical disposable gloves for which different standards apply. There is also a separate standard (EN12477) for welding gloves. My reading of this is that CE marking is mandatory as far as you are concerned in order to ensure that the gloves you are providing meet the relevant standard. For heat protection the standard is EN407. The glove should also then carry the appropriate symbol(s) indicating its purpose. You should ask yourself where you would stand were a glove to fail and not have the CE marking - and the HSE investigate or the employee start a compensation claim. Chris

Posted By Dave Merchant If the gloves are placed on the market in the EU as an item of PPE then it's law that they must bear the CE marking. What a customer uses them for is irrelevant, and it's the supplier/manufacturer who is breaking the law. They can be prosecuted and their products destroyed if they fail to comply with the Directive. It's not your job to solve the problem, and you cannot add the CE marking yourself. Point out to your supplier that what they're doing is illegal, and if they refuse to apply the marking take your business elsewhere. Your local TS office will be interested if that's the case. Having said that, if you are in turn supplying items of PPE to employees etc. which do not bear the CE marking, you are also in trouble under the PPE Regulations and I'd advise you to recall every last one of them before the HSE drops by for a chat. It may be just a symbol, but it's a flooking important one.