Specialised Protective gloves are a requirement for different kinds of workplace tasks and for various industrial activities. Until recently, when working with power tools, vibrating machinery or pneumatically driven impact tools, general foam cell padded palm anti-vibration gloves have been considered to be the best Hand Arm Vibration (HAV) protection you can provide. However, the very latest scientific research is uncovering the ‘one glove fixes all’ misconception.
PIP Aust, a wholesale glove Designer and Importer has established a partnership with Swedish Specialised Textile manufacturers Eureka Safety AB for distribution of their unique Frequency Tuned Vibration Reducing glove range.
The unique ‘Eureka’ Impact Vibration reducing gloves are specifically designed to absorb the exact ‘wave band oscillations’ emitting from each tool or machine being operated. These emissions are measured in Frequency (Hertz) and are linked to the revolutions (RPM) each piece of equipment is operating at.
It is important to note the current global Workplace Vibration Standards guidelines are based on studies from the 1970’s. During this time, tool / machinery and material / manufacturing technologies have advanced dramatically. Exhaustive studies throughout the last 3 years, have confirmed that each type of “vibration reducing” material and its specific construction method will provide a vastly different range of vibration absorbing effectiveness.
If you frequently operate equipment and tools with very high impact or very high frequency vibration (400+ Hertz), then you’ll need to protect yourself with a different Vibration absorbing material glove in order to avoid the risk of developing hand-arm vibration syndrome.
In Lower Impact or Lower revving (-400 Hertz) tools and machinery, the vibration absorbing material must provide differing characteristic and so a different glove will be required to protect your arms and hands from a serious condition known as HAVS (hand-arm vibration syndrome). HAVS is also known as white finger syndrome. It was categorized as a secondary form of Raynaud’s phenomenon.
It is now becoming understood, that at very low frequencies (below 200 Hertz) that having any vibration absorption material in the fingers of the glove will actually increase the potential for damage to the wearer’s fingers over time. This occurs due to the amplification of the vibration via the action of the padding material at the fingers.
Anti-vibration gloves are an essential piece of your P.P.E kit if you work with power, air tools or any kind of vibrating machinery. Below you can find some examples of equipment and power tools which may cause HAVS:
- Grinders
- Chainsaws
- Sanders
- Power drills,
- Pneumatic drills
- Impact wrenches
- Jackhammers and more.
Anti-vibration gloves should be used by workers in industries such as:
- Auto repair
- Quarrying
- Construction
- Engineering
- Agriculture, and more.
Hand-arm syndrome is a very serious condition which affects the muscles, blood vessels, joints and nerves in the arms, wrists and hands. Injuries usually occur at frequencies between 5-2000 Hz.
How to reduce risks?
If you operate High revving air tools or heavy vibrating machinery, you should make sure to keep wearing the correct Frequency Reducing gloves. This can be a great help in reducing HAV damage, so take the time to understand the RPM and / or the Hertz output of each tool to be used and match this with the correct glove. Wear them every time you operate any kind of vibrating machinery. These gloves are used to block the amount of damaging frequency vibration transmission from impact powered tools and protect you from the negative health consequences which are associated with exposure to vibration.
An interesting point for our Cold weather States down south. Anti-vibration gloves that keep your hands warm in Cold environments, will improve your blood flow, which is very beneficial when operating heavy vibrating machinery. Ensuring a healthy blood circulation is crucial in this kind of work, in order to avoid any kind of health issues.
Anti-vibration gloves in combination with high quality reduced vibration emission tools will make your work experience much more comfortable, and more importantly, safer than ever.
Now that you have an update and know a little more about anti-vibration science, selecting the correct work gloves and all the risks which may occur if you don’t use them wisely. It’s time to take the next step and look up more information contact us at pipaus.com, to ensure that you get the latest scientifically proven high quality ‘Frequency Tuned’ safety gloves for you and your employees.
