What are Nitrile Gloves?: Everything you Need to Know
With safety being vital across various industries, disposable gloves are a necessary component of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect the hands, prevent cross-contamination and the spread of infection in the workplace. These gloves provide an excellent barrier between the wearer’s hands and elements such as water, grease, and more harmful elements such as chemicals and substances.
What are Nitrile Gloves?
Originally created to be used in medical and examination applications, nitrile gloves were developed by American inventors Neil Tillotson and Luc DeBecker in the 1980s. Since then, the slow-to-acceptance product has become an industry standard due to its strength and comfort, and has evolved to be used across various industries including food processing, commercial catering and hospitality.
Made from synthetic rubber, which involves the mixing of two synthetic polymers in the manufacturing process, nitrile gloves have triple the puncture resistance of latex, a higher chemical resistance than other material alternatives and are less likely to cause its user an allergic reaction.
Powder VS. Powder-Free
Powder is used in nitrile gloves to reduce the risks of tearing or damaging the gloves when donning. They also make it easier for those who have sweaty hands to put on, saving time for the user.
Nitrile gloves are also created to be powder-free which is beneficial to the user as these versions are more skin and allergy friendly. Powder-free nitrile gloves can still be easy to don and doff and are known to be more resistant to punctures than powdered gloves.
Benefits of Using Nitrile Gloves
There are many benefits to using nitrile gloves in your businesses. Nitrile Gloves offer a versatile option for a wide variety of industries and provide high chemical and puncture resistance, biohazard protection, and can be easily donned without powder.
Here are the many reasons why nitrile gloves are beneficial to your business operations:
- Greater resistance to fats, oils, solvents and acids.
- Highly tactile and allows users to perform tasks with precision and ease.
- Superior puncture and tear resistance.
- Proven to be physically strong, which makes them better for higher-risk applications that require longer durations of use.
- The synthetic nature creates a longer shelf life when compared to natural rubber or latex gloves.
- Provide superior barrier protection against many chemicals and petroleum-based products.
How to Choose the Right Nitrile Gloves?
There are a range of nitrile gloves made for different applications and purposes. Things like thickness, length and other features can impact where these gloves should be used.
Heavy duty gloves are designed to be thicker and can often be found in food processing facilities where PPE is integral to safety. These gloves have the strongest resistance to punctures and may also have a fish scale grip that provides good stability and abrasion resistance for the wearer.
HACCP International Certified gloves can be found in kitchens and food processing facilities as these gloves are safe to be used around food. This is an important factor to consider when purchasing gloves for your restaurant kitchens.
For examination or general hospital use, medical grade non sterile gloves should be worn when they aren’t exposed to invasive procedures. These gloves are often disposable and made from the same materials as sterile gloves.
Applications for Nitrile Gloves
As you may be able to see, nitrile gloves can be used across different industries in order to protect the wearer from external hazards. The major industries that nitrile gloves are found in are the following:
Food Service - Blue nitrile gloves are used here as they have a great resistance to fats, oils and tears. There are also HACCP International Certified nitrile gloves that allow for using these gloves around food.
Industrial use - Food manufacturing facilities use heavy duty nitrile gloves for their strength. Gloves are an integral part of the PPE used in these facilities as they protect the used for injury and minimise the potential spread of infection.
Healthcare - These gloves are often found in healthcare because of their strength and durability. They are also relatively easy to don and doff for the wearer.
Commercial Cleaning - As nitrile gloves have a great resistance to acids and solvents, they are often used in commercial cleaning to protect the wearer's hands against chemicals burns and prevent the risks of infection.
Nitrile Gloves vs. Other Types of Gloves
Not all disposable gloves are the same, however, and when it comes to deciding which products to procure, there are a number of factors to consider. Ultimately, you will need to choose between vinyl, latex or nitrile gloves depending on what the gloves are for.
If you’re buying for food preparation, for example, you might choose vinyl gloves, which are better for low-risk, short-duration applications. Offering a snug fit and good flexibility, vinyl gloves are generally the most reasonably priced product on the market.
Latex gloves provide greater strength against punctures and tears than vinyl making these better for cleaning or food processing. They are also comfortable, being able to stretch to fit the wearer. Latex, however, is a common allergy with 1 in 6 people across the globe allergic to it. This is an important factor to consider when purchasing gloves.
Nitrile gloves, on the other hand, are physically stronger, making them better for higher-risk applications that require longer durations of use, and where chemicals and oils are being handled. Developed as an alternative to latex, which has lost popularity due to allergy risks, nitrile is chemically complex, involving the mixing of two synthetic polymers in the manufacturing process. This increases cost, but the material’s strong bonds give the gloves their physical strength and chemical resistance. And while less tactile than latex, nitrile gloves are getting ever-thinner without compromise on quality or durability thanks to advances in technology.
Nitrile gloves are known for their excellent strength and resistance to many things making them perfect for use in many different industries and for many purposes.
Explore Bunzl Express' range of disposable gloves for every area of your business.
