Disposable Safety Gloves

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently banned powdered gloves, citing evidence that such gloves pose serious risks to patients. Patients have experienced health concerns such as inflammation around wounds, post-surgical adhesions and allergic reactions. This restriction is now shared with the industrial glove market to avoid confusion. These are just as effective as powdered gloves without unnecessary health concerns.

Industry professionals often select nitrile gloves because they can often be worn more than once. And, with nitrile gloves, users can avoid the danger of latex allergy concerns. This allergic reaction to latex is quite common in the medical field, so it just makes sense to use caution when providing this glove option to your employees.

When selecting safety gloves, you should know that they come in a range of styles, including thicker gloves for dealing with dangerous chemicals and those for burn and cut protection. Some of our disposable gloves feature a rough exterior to give your employees more of a grip on the job. They will be able to handle certain tools and objects with ease. Browse our selection below to find the right disposable safety gloves for your business, or speak with our safety experts if you want personal recommendations for disposable safety gloves.

How long are disposable gloves good for?

Disposable gloves are disposable for a reason. Someone using them is in a situation where they need to protect their own hands from hazards, or they're trying to keep an environment or object as clean as possible. Disposable gloves are generally cheaper than anything that could be washed and reused and are often the safest way to work with certain hazards.

However, disposable gloves have a shelf life and a date, after which the manufacturer recommends not using them. As long as the package seal isn't broken or the gloves aren't exposed to moisture, properly-stored disposable gloves can last for years before needing to be replaced. Natural latex gloves last approximately three years, while synthetic materials like nitrile, neoprene, PVC, and polyethylene have around five years. Some surgical and medical gloves manufacturers claim their products can be stored for up to five years.

As long as your gloves look normal, can stretch without cracks appearing on the surface, and you can pull them onto your hand without breaking or tearing them, they're able to provide the protection they were designed for. Gloves past their shelf life tear more easily and develop a hard surface that cracks under stress, and some powder-free gloves without a donning layer may become gooey. Regardless of the material your disposable gloves are made from, they should be stored in a cool, dark environment. They should not be exposed to UV light, moisture, or heat sources.

When should you replace disposable gloves?

When you're at work, taking off and putting on new gloves depends on what you're doing and what the best practices are for your industry. While disposable gloves usually last for a while, they're designed for brief use and regular changing. Not changing gloves as often as you should means that you might be spreading contaminants to other areas. You should always change gloves in these situations:

• You're exposed to infectious diseases or have handled biohazards
• The gloves have wears, tears, dirt, or punctures
• You come in contact with chemicals that could degrade the material
• You move to a new customer, patient, task, or food item (especially when switching from raw meat to salads)
• You've been wearing the same pair for four continuous hours
• You touch your hair, face, or another part of your body

Unused disposable gloves should be thrown out if they display any signs of degradation or damage we mentioned above. If gloves that are supposed to be sterile have damaged or opened packaging, they should be replaced.

How do you dispose of PPE gloves?

If you're in a job where disposable gloves are part of the PPE, it's because you need a sanitary or impermeable barrier, protection against chemicals or biohazards, there's a cross-contamination risk, or you need protection and dexterity. You're going to want fresh gloves after a while, and you're going to want to be careful when you dispose of the ones you're wearing to avoid spreading the contamination that you were trying to avoid coming into contact with in the first place. Again, there are some industries where the requirements are stricter, and in many cases, you will have other (sometimes also disposable) PPE workwear to worry about removing before you get to your gloves. In general, though, there are a few basic guidelines that everyone who wears disposable gloves can feel confident following.

Removing safety gloves is more or less the reverse process of putting them on. Grab the outside of one glove with your other hand, being careful not to touch your bare skin and being mindful of fluids, secretions, and other contaminants that might be on your gloves. Carefully peel the glove away from your body, turning it inside out as you go. Your glove should be fully inside out when you're done, and at this point you can ball it up or fold it over. Hold your removed glove in your gloved hand, and without touching the glove to your skin, remove your second one by sliding your fingers inside the glove cuff and peeling it away from your skin. You should turn the second glove inside-out so that the first glove you removed is inside the second. Dispose of the gloves safely and in the proper waste receptacle, and wash your hands with soap and water immediately for at least twenty seconds.

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