Glove wearing is one of the most effective industrial injury prevention programs. Statistically, wearing gloves reduces the relative risk of hand injury by 60 percent — and yet, getting employees to consistently wear gloves is one of the most daunting challenges for safety officers.
Workers raise all type of objections, from the age-old “I can do a better job without gloves” to “Gloves get in the way of good grip” or “Wearing gloves makes my hands sweaty and slippery.” Statements such as “Cut-resistant sleeves are awkward” can also be commonplace. In the field, we see instances where workers have modified gloves by removing the fingers, wrapped their hands with tape or bandaging leaving their fingers free or set their gloves aside entirely. All of these actions, although taken to improve job performance, put the workers’ hands at risk.