Safety gloves

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Definitely do not wear rings, not connected with turning or drilling but a colleague of mine when descending from a safety raiser, when working on aircraft, lost his footing on the greasy rungs of the ladder and a ring he was wearing caught as he was falling and rolled the skin and flesh of his ring finger right down to the bone the full length of his finger, fortunately he didn’t severe the tendons, but they were well and truly exposed. Once you have witnessed a nasty injury like that it focuses the mind and you make sure you take the necessary precautions. Dave W

[Anonymous]

Some people like myself suffer from skin problems, dirt, grease, oil etc can be a real problem so nitrile gloves are the answer if you want to continue with the hobbly. I have caught and lost the odd glove, though not regularly, with no problem.

[Rex HanmanParticipant @rexhanman57403]

I have witnessed a gloved hand being caught in a lathe. NO! NO! NO!

I cringe whenever I see a glove in a workshop, other than welding gloves.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

The most frightning thing I ever saw done on a lathe without an actual accident was at work. An older engineer parted off a bit of 1" thin-wall tube and then with it still running, wrapped bit of emery strip round his index finger and stuck it in the bore to smooth it. I could not say anything in case it distracted him. as soon as hiss finger came out I hit the E-Stop. When I asked him to think about what he had done he went very white and had to sit down….

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

I suspect those suggesting Nitrle gloves are thinking of the very thin style disposable gloves. Those saying no are thinking of the fabric reinforced type. Neither will stop metal splinters/chips.

You can make a scoop from a 4 pt milk container to help clean up, but most of my splinters are picked up from wiping my hands on a rag, which provides enough force to penetrate the skin and they always come from the mill.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by Robert Atkinson 2 on 14/07/2023 08:35:46:

Posted by Bill Phinn on 13/07/2023 21:59:51:

Posted by Robert Atkinson 2 on 13/07/2023 21:55:20:

Any action that would cause a tight fitting nitrile glovedhand to be drawn in without tearing would almost certainly do the same to a bare hand.

If you must have gloves they are the best choice but must be tight.

That's not advice I would endorse. I've seen a hand drawn in by a combi drill when the user was wearing close fitting nitrile gloves. A wire brush walked [or rather ran] up the user's arm and caused a nasty injury, though fortunately without life-changing results.

My point is that in that circumstance the wire brush would have done the same thing without gloves.
Gloves are only a hazard when they are MORE LIKELY to be caught than bare skin or are STRONGER than bare skin. Tight fitting thin nitrile gloves are neither more likely to be caught or stronger than skin.

Sorry, Robert, but the thin, non-reinforced nitrile glove my friend was wearing pulled the wire brush up his arm at alarming speed in a way his own skin never would have. It was only after the wire wheel had travelled about four inches up his forearm, digging itself deeper into his skin as the tightening rubber pulled it down, that the glove disintegrated. He simply didn’t have time to react.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Bill Phinn on 14/07/2023 11:59:32:

Posted by Robert Atkinson 2 on 14/07/2023 08:35:46:

Posted by Bill Phinn on 13/07/2023 21:59:51:

Posted by Robert Atkinson 2 on 13/07/2023 21:55:20:

Any action that would cause a tight fitting nitrile glovedhand to be drawn in without tearing would almost certainly do the same to a bare hand.

If you must have gloves they are the best choice but must be tight.

That's not advice I would endorse. I've seen a hand drawn in by a combi drill when the user was wearing close fitting nitrile gloves. A wire brush walked [or rather ran] up the user's arm and caused a nasty injury, though fortunately without life-changing results.

My point is that in that circumstance the wire brush would have done the same thing without gloves.
Gloves are only a hazard when they are MORE LIKELY to be caught than bare skin or are STRONGER than bare skin. Tight fitting thin nitrile gloves are neither more likely to be caught or stronger than skin.

Sorry, Robert, but the thin, non-reinforced nitrile glove my friend was wearing pulled the wire brush up his arm at alarming speed in a way his own skin never would have. It was only after the wire wheel had travelled about four inches up his forearm, digging itself deeper into his skin as the tightening rubber pulled it down, that the glove disintegrated. He simply didn’t have time to react.

Surprising result – latex and nitrile gloves tear easily, or at least the ones I buy do. Thicker gloves are available, so perhaps a pair of the tougher type were being worn?

Before thin rubber the advice not to wear gloves was rock solid – no glove was safe because they were all too strong.

Not wearing gloves causes other injuries though. Minor cuts and infections from swarf, plus dermatitis from oil and cutting fluids. Barrier cream helps, but I prefer gloves. I hope I'm balancing the risk sensibly. In my case, I'm a sensitive softy, not a horny handed real-man!

Food for thought though. Might experiment later to see how strong my thin latex gloves actually are. They may not be as safe as I fondly imagine…

Dave

[Bill Davies 2Participant @billdavies2]

As a former apprentice instructor – no gloves, rings, even watches. No ties (who wears such things these days? OK, a few of you). And avoid loose shop coats or aprons, if you have bare leadscrew and feedbar.

Bill

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 14/07/2023 12:59:45:

Surprising result – latex and nitrile gloves tear easily, or at least the ones I buy do. Thicker gloves are available, so perhaps a pair of the tougher type were being worn?

Dave

The gloves, Dave, were almost certainly Sempercare Nitrile.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Bill Phinn on 14/07/2023 13:30:41:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 14/07/2023 12:59:45:

Surprising result – latex and nitrile gloves tear easily, or at least the ones I buy do. Thicker gloves are available, so perhaps a pair of the tougher type were being worn?

Dave

The gloves, Dave, were almost certainly Sempercare Nitrile.

Oh dear, back to Barrier Cream for me then!

Dave

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 14/07/2023 14:22:05:

Posted by Bill Phinn on 14/07/2023 13:30:41:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 14/07/2023 12:59:45:

Surprising result – latex and nitrile gloves tear easily, or at least the ones I buy do. Thicker gloves are available, so perhaps a pair of the tougher type were being worn?

Dave

The gloves, Dave, were almost certainly Sempercare Nitrile.

Oh dear, back to Barrier Cream for me then!

Dave

The one mitigating circumstance, Dave, is that I couldn't swear to what type of Sempercare Nitrile they were. The most common type is the "Nitrile Skin 2", which has a breaking force of "6-7 Newtons". There are, however, others in the range that have a breaking force of "9 Newtons".

Personally, I don't regard this sort of difference in strength as a reason to trust that the lower strength gloves will always break at the critical moment before any damage is done.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

The thin gloves must also be tight fitting. If you are gettng within a thou or so of the moving part you are too close glove or not

Edited By Robert Atkinson 2 on 14/07/2023 19:39:07

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

I believe you can get nitrile or similar type gloves which are guaranteed to split rather than get wound into machinery – I don't fancy the idea myself, but I guess if you suffered from some sort of severe skin condition they might be worth looking into.

I agree, brass splinters are horrible. I do find though that using a tool with no top rake (side or back, i.e flat) produces less aggressive chips – and it isn't prone to digging in, and gives a good finish

Edited By Andy Stopford on 14/07/2023 20:32:27

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by Andy Stopford on 14/07/2023 20:32:05:

I believe you can get nitrile or similar type gloves which are guaranteed to split rather than get wound into machinery – I don't fancy the idea myself, but I guess if you suffered from some sort of severe skin condition they might be worth looking into.

It seems this industrial safety training company at least hasn't heard of them [as I haven't, nor would I trust them for that purpose if I had]:

"Train your employees to protect them from bad information available on the internet. Workers may believe that latex or nitrile gloves are safer than leather or cotton work gloves because they will tear free if caught. Make sure they know this is not true; these kinds of gloves can also lead to dangerous entanglements, accidents, and sometimes amputations."

Bob B's testimony here of an accident at the Waterford Nuclear plant also makes for sobering reading about the potential consequences of wearing nitrile gloves inappropriately.

 

Edited By Bill Phinn on 14/07/2023 21:32:45

[DrDaveParticipant @drdave]

Posted by Bill Phinn on 14/07/2023 21:24:52:

Bob B's testimony here of an accident at the Waterford Nuclear plant also makes for sobering reading about the potential consequences of wearing nitrile gloves inappropriately.

Some interesting tales in that link, Bill. I used to treat nitrile gloves as tear-before-getting-finger-removed devices, but recently I have started just wearing them for the dirtier jobs, such as changing tooling in the mill. However, if I ever get a round tuit, I might try Ansell's Hyflex 11-812 gloves "designed to pre-emptively tear if entangled in rotating tools" (see hyflex 11-812). Their video shows some of their testing on these gloves: they look like they would reduce the risk of loosing a finger, but the risk of being pulled in might remain.

I apologise if this sounds like an advert! I have no connection with Ansell, but I thought that these might be of interest in this thread.

Dave

[Bruce VoelkerdingParticipant @brucevoelkerding91659]

my Wife told me to try a Pair of Suspenders from my late Father. These were the kind that just snap onto the Trousers. It scared me to no Ends when I leaned over my running Lathe to read the Cross Slide Dial and the back Snaps let loose and the Suspenders flew over my Head across the running Lathe. There was no Accident, but the Suspenders went directly into the Trash.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

I don't think anyone is saying wearing tight fitting nitrile gloves around machinery is safe. They are generally safer than loose fabric ones etc in the same circumstances.
Like all these things it is a balance. The user has to decide if the benefits to them of wearing the gloves outweigh the risks. If you just want to keep your hands clean, probably not. If you have an allergy or dermatitis then maybe.

Robert.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Despite my earlier post that nitrile gloves may be useful and be low risk I must say that I never wear gloves when working. Looking at nitrile gloves they do seem to come in various thicknesses and combinations with other materials. What I had in mind was the thin examination type of glove, my very limited personal experience of these is that they are very fragile and would probably be unlikely to drag your hand in like a cotton glove would. I don’t fancy doing the testing to find out if some gloves are safer than others and my default position would be no gloves, but for anyone with some need of protection the thin nitrile would be my limit. When operating machinery there are endless temptations to clear swarf and slow chucks to take a quick measurement, doing these things can go wrong in a heartbeat so recognising danger and resisting the temptation to take an unnecessary risk requires constant vigilance.

Mike

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

"my Wife told me to try a Pair of Suspenders from my late Father. These were the kind that just snap onto the Trousers".

I am so relieved that you clarified that the 'suspenders' you refer to are to hold trousers up. They are known as 'braces' in the UK, to distinguish them from a ladies' lingerie item.

I'm not sure how I would react if my wife asked me to try 'suspenders', LOL!

[Chris Pearson 1Participant @chrispearson1]

Going off at a slight tangent, how many of you have an emergency stop button (or pedal) within easy reach; and do you have a brake on your spindle?

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

VFDacts as a brake. Set up so that with the heaviest chuck it just doesn't trip the overload. Careful doing this with a screw nose chuck

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

I never wear any for of glove when working with machines not even the nitrile type. I do have a box of them and found that when putting them on they seem to rip(I wear them when working with stains for woodworking and when blackening metal).

Rings are also a no no in my workshop as is loose clothing

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

I haven't been cutting my hair since lockdown. It is getting to a very dangerous length.

[PatJParticipant @patj87806]

I wear nitrile gloves while machining, 5 mil, XXL and sometimes XL.

They are thin and weak enough to tear if they snag, but they do introduce perhaps a slight bit of snag hazzard.

My lathe does not have an E-stop, although I have purchased one, but not installed it.

My lathe belt is not particularly tight, and so if the lathe is jammed, the belt will slip, as opposed to doing a lot of damage (don't ask me how I know this).

I normally would never wear a glove of any type while machining, but the nitrile have been ok for me, and I have not felt that they created an abnormal hazard.

The reason I wear nitrile gloves in the shop is that I can pop out there, do some work when I have a few minutes, and then pop back inside with clean hands a minute later.

I don't care so much about having clean hands, but I like to avoid exposure to oils, solvents, paints, and foundry materials, all of which can be harsh on the hands.

 

Edited By PatJ on 15/07/2023 11:30:15

[derek hall 1Participant @derekhall1]

I never wear gloves in the workshop, I use barrier cream, and orange swarfega when I am finished.

I have never worn rings

As for hair…..what hair? 😊

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