Personal protective equipment (PPE) for transferring and transporting harmful elements, such as chemical protective gloves, are subject to different safety considerations. There are countless hazardous compounds that can cause injuries of varying severity.

The safety provided by a suit or gloves depends on the materials of manufacture. This, in turn, has to do with permeation and penetration rates, which includes repulsion.

Chemicals and chemical protective gloves

The consequences of harmful exposure to chemicals can be of varying degrees of extent. Therefore, it is an essential requirement to have gloves, helmets, goggles, shoes and overalls that prevent the permeation of any hazardous agent.

Chemicals enter the body through various routes such as the skin, nose or mouth. If this were to happen, it could result in anything from medical problems in the dermis to a more serious systemic disease.

Companies working in sectors that handle these elements carry out a series of technical and administrative controls. In addition, they provide all their employees with adequate personal protective equipment to carry out their work in optimal health and safety conditions. The right choice of PPE is key to ensure that the control actions taken have the desired effectiveness against the so-called residual risks.

PPE in the company: Chemical Protective Clothing

The choice of these suits must be made according to the work activity carried out by each worker and its particularities. Before taking occupational risk prevention measures, the company needs to carry out a diagnosis or risk assessment of each workstation. In this way, you know the dangers to which each employee is exposed.

Once the assessment has been made, measures must be developed for the correct adaptation of the jobs and the elimination of risks at their source. However, if residual risks continue to exist, this is when the use of personal protective equipment becomes necessary. It is mandatory to provide employees with the necessary PPE, otherwise the company faces serious legal consequences, in addition to endangering the integrity of its human resources.

Most common Personal Protective Equipment

There are several types of PPE in the chemical industry and in companies that work with the handling of these products.

There is gas-tight chemical protective equipment, which covers the entire body, including the head, feet and hands. There are others such as non-gas-tight chemical protection suits. There is also liquid-tight, spray-tight, solid aerosol and liquid chemical protective clothing.

They can be of total or partial protection. In addition, there are disposable or reusable suits. The former should be disposed of after a single use. The second type is clothing that can be used more than once, as long as we follow the corresponding decontamination and cleaning processes established by the manufacturer.

Chemical Transfer and Transportation PPE Materials: Permeation and Penetration

Equipment with these characteristics is usually made of various materials and includes several layers. A mechanism to increase the levels of protection and resistance to the effect of chemicals that may come into contact with the garments.

All information on the materials used in the manufacture of the suits must be provided by the manufacturer by means of information sheets. These should contain the names and composition of each product, together with permeation and penetration data. Likewise, the breakup time must be reported.

In order for a given line of chemical protective clothing to be authorized for sale, it must have passed various tests and trials. Among them are those of resistance to:

• Abrasion
• Flexion
• Traction
• Drilling
• Combustion

In addition to these, there are two endurance tests of particular importance:

• Permeation (including repellency)
• Penetration

In this sense, Ansell manufactures a wide range of equipment and gloves of high protection, resistance and durability. These have undergone various quality controls of the highest standards. If you are looking for the best ally for the protection of each of the processes, the best thing to do is to count on us. The experience and quality of our equipment have made us world leaders in the sector.

In short, chemical protective suits and gloves used by a company must be inspected by users before and after each use, especially in the case of reusable protective clothing. A series of procedures must also be followed regarding maintenance, storage, cleaning, decontamination and replacement of PPE. In this way, the safety of the workers will be guaranteed at all times.