The hand: 29 bones and joints, 123 ligaments, 34 muscles, 48 nerves, 3 major nerves, 24 sensory branches. In fact, more bones and moving parts than most other areas of your body, all working together to let you do the most amazing things. Our hands are what separate us from animals. They’re central to our intelligence. We use them for just about everything. And like breathing, we scarcely give them a second thought.

So we should be extra careful with them, especially in the workplace. But talk to someone in the business of protecting hands — like Superior Glove Works in Acton, Ontario, Canada — and you’ll quickly find out that’s not always the case.

In the business for close to a century, Superior has evolved from manufacturing mostly cut-and-sewn leather and cotton gloves to developing and producing a whole new world of sophisticated hand protection covering the spectrum of hazards.

But producing those gloves is not all they do; a major part of their business focuses on educating both users and purchasers of safety apparel about the importance of choosing the right hand protection. The situation today is that you’ve never been better protected, but how do you know what to choose?

But first things first. People have to acknowledge the need for gloves in the first place, which oddly, is no small feat, and is why the company is sponsoring their first-ever video contest — the Handies. With a grand prize of $5,000.00, they hope to see some new and creative ways to promote hand safety. If a picture paints a thousand words, Superior president Tony Geng is banking that a short video will paint many more than that. Websites and catalogues cover the nuts and bolts of their business, but sometimes it takes a whole different medium for a message to gain new traction.

Deadline for the contest is Oct. 5th 2009, and winning entries will be announced at the National Safety Congress in Orlando, Florida, on October 25th, 2009. Enter the ‘Handies’ contest by visitingwww.eblast.superiorglove.net/handies_09.html, or click on the link on the company’s Web site atwww.superiorglove.com.