We make gloves available, but I personally encourag e students to wear them only in situations where they are warranted.  In my judgment, in many labs the chemicals in use provide no significant skin haz ard, especially when a quick rinse with readily-available tap water is possible even in instances where perhaps some dermal hazard might exist (for extended exposure.)  The skin is a pretty good barrier, but there are surely chemicals that can destroy and/or penetrate skin.  For some dermal hazards, the gloves that might “be routinely available” in lab may not provide protection, either, so unlike splash goggles that provide virtu ally all-encompassing eye protection, “gloves” might not protect the skin depending upon the chemical and the glove.    Wearing t he wrong glove may be worse than wearing no glove.  And, this email threa d is about “student labs”  where many of the most dangerous der mal hazards would be avoided in the first place.  (HF in general chemistry?  I think not!)

 

Also, unlike goggles, gloves are disposable, which incurs the cost that prompted this email thread.  I don’t “discourage” glove use, but (I think that) some students use th em more routinely than others, and perhaps more than necessary (perhaps relate d to bouts of chemophobia that may not be warranted).  Some students realiz e that gloves  become uncomfortable to wear after awhile.  Safety overrides comfort (as with some goggles, for some students), to be sure, bu t when there is no need for gloves why endure discomfort?   Gloves may or may not hinder manipulations; in principle they shouldn’t, but inexperienced users don’t make what others might consider “good judgment” in many situations. 

 

Finally, I recall reading (about 40 years ago) some human behavior study that indicated that some drivers drove faster when wearing s eat belts (when these were new devices in cars) since they “felt safer 221; wearing the seat belt and therefore “felt safer to drive faster.”  (This was hardly the intended effect of wearing seat belts, and I’d guess not a universal response for all personality types.)  But, I wonder, if some students won’t  feel somewh at less need to be careful about spilling solutions or solvents when they are wearing protective gloves?  Just speculation; no data, not even pseudo-data like an anecdote!

 

It could be argued that it is prudent to wear glove s all of the time (just as we mandate splash goggles all of the time) but for me, the arguments above about cost, comfort, lack of need in many lab situations, a nd the possibility of using the wrong glove material all argue for a more tempered, occasional use of gloves.   Of course, one idiosyncrati c allergic reaction by one student out of a thousand can lead to universal CYA-motivated use that, in my judgment, could end up doing more damage than good over the long haul for the other 999+ that follow.  Alas.

 

Dave

 

P.S.  Here is a list of resources that may be helpful regarding glove selection:

 

http://www.allsafetyproducts.biz/site/323655/page/74172 This chart is sorted by categories of chemicals.  Gloves types are indicated; n o thickness information.

http://safety.nmsu.edu/programs/chem_safety/hazcom_PPE- resistance_guide.htm This chart has an alphabetical list of chemicals.  Gloves types are indicated; no thickness information.

http://safety.nmsu.edu/programs/chem_safety/hazcom_PPE_ glove_guide.htm Gener al categories and characteristics of glove materials.

http://www.bestglove.com/site/chemrest/default.aspx Allow s users to search by either specific chemical or specific gloves.  Extensive information provided.

http://w ww.des.umd.edu/ls/gloves.html Alpha betical listing of chemicals.  Several glove materials listed, with thicknes s indicated.

http://www.saftgard.com/anonymous/SolvaGard1.pdf Infor mation on nitrile gloves for many chemicals.

http://www.mapaglove.com/ChemicalSearch.cfm?id=1 Searc hable database.

http://www.northsafety.com/ClientFormsImages/NorthSafet y/CorpSite/E8D15F2E-1F59-454F-B8F0-147FA2B9D81D.pdf PDF f ile with many gloves and chemical listed.

http://www.ansellpro.com/download/Ansell_8thEditionChem icalResistanceGuide.pdf http://www. ansellpro.com/specware/ This chart has an alphabetical list of chemicals.  Gloves types are indicated; relatively thick gloves tested.