We tend to think of impact work gloves as something you see on oil rigs or construction sites, where heavy duty impacts and blows are common. But almost any manufacturing process involves some type of rough work that can bump or bruise workers’ hands.

Prevention is a key factor for any organization seeking continual improvement in its occupational health and safety performance. In the hierarchy of controls, elimination of the hazard comes first, and the last line of defence is proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

There are 110,000 lost-time hand injuries annually. Hand injuries send more than one million workers to the emergency room each year. And 70 percent of workers who experience hand injuries are not wearing gloves.

In recent years, technology advancement has allowed manufacturers to create more sophisticated yarns that improve glove performance significantly. The level of cut protection can be increased by using high-performance materials, and by increasing a material's weight.