How to put on Nitrile and Latex Gloves

Understanding the proper way to put on, and take off your nitrile or latex gloves is the final step to ensuring that your gloves are providing the optimum protection for you and your employees.

Although this process may seem straightforward, this week at Your Glove Source, we want to remind you of some key tips to make sure that your gloves are being used to the best of their ability.

Correct Fitting Gloves

One of the most important steps to wearing nitrile or latex gloves is having a proper fitting glove. Ill-fitting gloves will increase the likelihood of injury or contamination.

If your glove is too big, the loose fitting material will cause dexterity and grip to be reduced. If your glove is too small, you risk ripping or puncturing your glove and decreased hand flexibility.

A great tip to test your gloves for correct fit is:

While wearing your gloves, extend your fingers until they are straight. You will know your gloves are too small if the nitrile or latex is stretching. Your glove is also too small if you see tears forming in the material where your thumb meets your palm.

Properly put on your Gloves

They absolute key when dealing with gloves and putting them on, is cleanliness. Always keep cleanliness in the back of your mind, and you will ensure your gloves are being used optimally.

You should put on your gloves in a clean area with clean hands. You should not be contaminating your gloves by placing them on a dirty surface. You should also never put on your nitrile or latex gloves if you have not just washed your hands. Any contaminates left on your hands, will transfer to and through the glove.

It is also important to remove all watches, rings, and other jewelry from you hands before putting on your gloves. This is taking an extra step of precaution to prevent any accidental rips or tears in the glove.

In order to preserve the cleanliness of the glove, attempt to not touch the outside of the glove as you put them on. An easy way to do this is first put the nitrile or latex glove on your dominant hand, while touching it as little as possible. Then, put the other glove on your non dominant hand, using your gloved dominant hand to pull it on. Once both gloves are on your hands you can adjust your fingers and the fit of the glove.

One thing that makes it difficult to put on nitrile or latex gloves is the presence of moisture. Powdered gloves will reduce the moisture and make it easier to put on gloves, however, in some industries, like automotive, cannot use powdered gloves because it is damaging to the products they work on. Additionally hospitals and medical personnel have shied away from powdered gloves due to concerns of the powder becoming air borne and thus being a contaminant in critical environments.  Another powder free glove solution would be polymer-coated gloves.

Properly Removing Gloves

The most important thing to remember when removing your gloves is to not touch the outside of the glove because then you could get unwanted liquids or substances on your skin.

Once again, beginning with your dominant hand you can remove the other glove peeling it off your hand without touching the outside. Then, you can proceed to do the same thing carefully; using your un-gloved dominant hand to removed the glove from your other hand.