Safety Gloves | Protective Gloves

Safety Gloves for hand protection

We supply Quality, Durable Work Gloves throughout the UK and beyond. We stock over 100,000 gloves across over 100 styles: so, yes we should have your requirements in stock for despatch within 24 hours. What do you need to know to choose your gloves?

Most gloves used for manual handling (yard work, construction sites etc) comply with EN ISO 388. This standard has a clever rating system to show you the ABRASION resistance, CUT resistance, TEAR resistance and PUNCTURE resistance of each glove. The gloves are ranked out of 4 – where 1 is the lowest and 4 is the best; (CUT is actually ranked out of 5 where CUT 5  level protection is the best you can get.).

We carry the best brands of gloves, as well as generic cost competitive hand protection.  We have split our gloves into handy subcategories:

• Cut Resistant Work Gloves

• Chemical Protection Work Gloves

• Cold Weather Gloves 

• Disposable Protection Gloves

• General Handling Work Gloves

• Impact Protection Gloves

• Oil and Gas Gloves

• Vibration Protection Gloves

• Welding gloves and heat resistant work gloves

European Safety Standards for Protective Gloves

Most of the European standards concerning protective gloves are represented by a shield-shaped symbol (facing risk protection symbol) associated with a list of performance levels obtained at one or numerous tests in a laboratory.

BS EN420 General requirements for gloves includes sizing and a number of health and safety factors including latex protein and chromium levels.

BS EN388 Mechanical risks

BS EN511 Risks with cold

BS EN407 Thermal hazards heat and fire

BS EN659 Fireman gloves

PR EN12477 Gloves for welders

BS EN374-2 Micro-organic risks

BS EN374-3 Chemical hazards

ISO 10819 Vibrations and impact of mechanical origin

BS EN60903 Electric shock

BS EN1149 Antistatic

BS EN381-4 Chainsaw Protection Hazards

Levels vary from 0 to 4, 5 or 6. 0 being an insufficient result in regards to the standards criteria and 4, 5 or 6 the higher and more effective levels. An "X" in a test result means that this test is not correct for this PPE or that it has not been carried out.

BS EN420: GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

This standard is defined by the general requirements and relevant test procedures for all protective gloves and is concerned with the following areas:

Manufacturer I.D and product marking

Innocuousness (e.g. : pH of the materials the most neutral)

Respect of agreed size

Dexterity : it is highly advisable that a glove allows as much dexterity as possible according to the intended use of the glove.

Glove composition

Packing, storage, maintenance and cleaning

Information given to the user on instructions for use whatever the PPE category :

performances, pictograms, uses, use precautions, available size ranges.

The standard does not address the protective qualities of the gloves and so is designed with the appropriate specific European Standard.

BS EN388: MECHANICAL RISKS

The EN388 standard applies to all types of protective gloves in regards to physical and mechanical stresses by abrasion, cutting from blade, puncture and tearing. This standard does not apply to anti-vibratory gloves.

The tested item is given a rating of 1 to 4 (lowest to highest) on some or all of the listed categories.

The 'blade cut resistance' test is it measured from 1 to 5. Frequently an 'x' will replace one or more of the numbers, this means that the correct test was not performed.

BS EN407: THERMAL RISKS HEAT AND FIRE

The EN407 standard is specified to test methods, general requirements, thermal resistance levels and the marking of protective gloves against heat or fire.

It applies to all the gloves which must give protection for hands against heat and / or flames under one or several of the following forms: fire, contact to heat, convective heat, radiant heat, small projections of molten metal or big projections of molten metal.

Tests can be carried out for performance levels and not for protection ones. A tested item is given a performance rating of 1 to 4 on some or all of the listed categories.

An 'x' will replace one or more of the numbers, this means that the test was not performed.

BS EN374-2: MICRO-ORGANISMS RISKS

The EN374-2 standard has a test method for the resistance to penetration of the gloves against chemicals or micro organisms. When the gloves resist to the penetration and when tested to the EN374 standard, they constitute an efficacious barrier against microbiological risks.

BS EN374-3: CHEMICAL RISKS

The EN374 - 3 standard applies to cases of continuous contact, to determine the resistance of the materials which constitutes the permeation gloves from non-gaseous, potentially dangerous chemicals.

It is therefore advisable to insist that this test does not take into account for conditions liable to be met during service, and it is also advisable to use the test results, which have a relative value, only to compare the materials performance after the passage of time.

Work Gloves, Chemical Protection Gloves, Disposable Protection Gloves or Cut Resistant Gloves - Online at North Sea Workwear