Glove education

CONTROLLING ENDOTOXIN CONTAMINATION ON STERILE CLEANROOM GLOVES

  Injectable pharmaceuticals or implantable medical devices contaminated with endotoxins can cause a very serious patient reaction. Endotoxin contamination of batches of injectable solutions or implants can also have significant financial consequences for the manufacturer. Therefore, monitoring for endotoxin contamination on sterile cleanroom nitrile gloves and latex gloves is a key concern for critical environments, including the implantable medical devices industry and the pharmaceutical industry.   What are bacterial endotoxins and their impact? What are bacterial endotoxins? Endotoxins or Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are fragments from the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria (using the Gram staining technique, Gram-negative bacteria produce a pink […]

CLEANROOM GLOVES’ PERFORMANCE FOR PARTICULATE CLEANLINESS (LPC test)

  The main challenge when working and manufacturing a product in a cleanroom is maintaining its cleanliness level according to the cleanroom classification. The quality of the manufactured product is at stake! The issues can relate both to safety (to avoid any product failure or health risk) but also to the economic question (to avoid defects and therefore scrap). Many industries have critical processes: microelectronics, semiconductors, nanotechnologies, space, aeronautics or precision optics, automotive painting, battery manufacturing, medical devices or pharmaceutical or health industry. It is therefore necessary to limit the risk of contamination of the product by limiting the number […]

ACCELERATOR-FREE GLOVES TO LIMIT THE RISK OF ALLERGY

  To conclude our series on allergies resulting from wearing single-use gloves, let’s return to the subject of vulcanisation accelerators. Indeed, some disposable gloves are referred to as “accelerator-free”. Do you really know what vulcanisation accelerators are? Which are they and why are they used? What role do these vulcanisation accelerators play in triggering allergies? Are “accelerator-free” gloves really free of accelerators? A few explanations are in order.   VULCANISATION ACCELERATORS: WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? WHAT ARE DISPOSABLE GLOVES MADE OF? First of all, it should be remembered that single-use gloves are usually made of materials with “elastic” properties, […]

ALLERGIC CONTACT DERMATITIS (TYPE IV) AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SINGLE-USE GLOVES

  In many professional settings, protecting your hands from chemical or biological hazards by wearing single-use gloves is very common. These gloves are then considered Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and complement existing organizational protection measures. Unfortunately, single-use gloves that are worn for their protective properties can sometimes cause potentially very serious allergic reactions such as an allergy to Natural Rubber Latex (Type I) or dermatoses which may cause skin inflammation.   Apart from Natural Rubber allergy, which is specific to natural rubber latex gloves, there are two types of dermatitis that are generally associated with single-use gloves: Irritant contact dermatitis: it […]

LATEX ALLERGY (Type I) AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SINGLE-USE GLOVES

Protecting yourself and your hands is essential in many professional settings. More than 400 billion disposable gloves are used worldwide every year (MARGMA- Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association) and this figure is constantly increasing due to widespread awareness about workers’ hygiene, cleanliness, and safety. But wearing single-use gloves is not harmless. With the sharp increase in the use of disposable gloves, it is not surprising that there is an increased risk of allergic reactions. Among these reactions is an allergy to Natural rubber latex or Type I allergy related to single-use gloves made of Natural rubber latex. Whilst a Type […]

WHY CONSIDER GLOVE TENSILE STRENGTH AND ELONGATION PROPERTIES?

The skin is an important route for penetration of chemicals or microbiological agents that are potentially dangerous to human health. Thus, wearing disposable gloves is essential for many applications in the laboratory, cleanroom, industrial or medical sectors. It is therefore essential to ensure the protection of workers by providing them with disposable gloves adapted to the tasks being undertaken. When choosing a single-use glove, considering its tensile strength, elongation properties or even its potential for tearing whilst being stretched may be relevant. Indeed, a glove that tears no longer effectively protects the user. To prevent disposable gloves from tearing it […]

UNDERSTANDING THE GLOVE VIRAL PENETRATION TEST (ISO 16604:2004 – Procedure B)

Many viruses, responsible for human diseases, circulate continuously throughout the world (Common cold, flu, Covid-19, Ebola, …). Viruses are part of the microbiological risks (such as bacteria or fungi) requiring the wearing of appropriate protection by professionals exposed to them, whether in the field of healthcare or research. Thus, disposable gloves designed for protection against viruses should display the word “VIRUS” under the pictogram denoting biological risk, thereby demonstrating that they have passed the ISO 16604:2004 viral penetration test (Procedure B).   REGULATORY CONTEXT FOR BIOLOGICAL PROTECTIVE GLOVES   There are 2 categories of gloves: PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) protective […]

UNDERSTANDING THE TEST METHOD FOR GLOVE DEGRADATION (ISO 374-4:2019)

The norm ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 374-1:2016+A1:2018 requires a degradation test for “… each chemical claimed in the marking and reported in the user instruction” of disposable nitrile or latex gloves. The glove permeation test and the glove penetration test are thus not the only ones required for substantiating the properties of chemical protective gloves. In this article, we will help gloves users and Health & Safety managers to understand the glove degradation test method according to ISO 374-4:2019.   WHAT IS THE CONTEXT FOR THE CHEMICAL DEGRADATION STANDARD?   The standard ISO 374-1:2016+A1:2018 specifies the requirements for gloves […]

LEARNING ABOUT ESD DISPOSABLE GLOVES

Everyone has experienced electric discharge by touching an object or something else. This is called an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). Whilst in daily life these effects are mostly inconsequential, ESD can be very harmful or even dangerous in the industrial world. Learning about ESD disposable gloves is of paramount importance and will help in the selection of gloves with good ESD properties.   ESD ISSUES In the electronic, semiconductor or nanotechnology industries for example, the release of an uncontrolled spark may cause irreversible damages to electronic devices leading to serious financial losses. In other areas such as the pharmaceutical industry, avoiding […]

DOUBLE-GLOVING PROCEDURE: HOW TO PUT ON STERILE GLOVES

  Double-gloving is common in the manufacturing of products that must be kept free of contamination. This is the case in aseptic environments and in controlled atmosphere areas (cleanrooms) type A or B in the pharmaceutical industry. In these areas, the risk of particulate and microbial contamination of products must be minimized. The first reason for wearing gloves in these areas or, more generally, in cleanrooms, is therefore to avoid products’ human contamination or with particles present on PPE. It is therefore essential to maintain the cleanliness of cleanroom environments by wearing gloves of a high level of cleanliness with […]