Lower priced gloves don’t result in cost savings!

Lower price gloves lead to lower glove strength, flexibility and durability, increasing the rate of glove failure. Sure, you might be able to buy a box of 100 gloves at a lower price. But you’ll speed through the entire box and be back in less than a week.

This is because you’ll need to swop them several times even during the same job. They rip or wear thin very quickly, so you change to keep yourself safe, only to find the next pair only last 5 minutes.

For longer use times, it is important to choose a glove that is properly formulated and processed to withstand the application.

Before you know it, the entire box is gone. You pay another wad of cash for a new box, and those disappear too.

Of course, you should be switching out your disposable gloves for new ones regularly. Change them at least as often as described by the manufacturer.

In terms of value for money though, you’ll still get an awful lot more use out of good quality disposable gloves.<

Durability 

(WARNING – the following contains information that may shock you!)

One of the biggest mistakes made in the purchasing process is buying based solely on price. The overall value of a glove is much more complicated than just the price of a pair of gloves.

In addition to price, buyers should consider performance in the application, comfort for the user, protection and safety risks and the resultant productivity.

Gloves manufactured from cheap, low-quality raw materials can commonly cause skin allergies. Studies have shown that the chemical accelerators and other additives commonly used in the production of nitrile, latex and non-latex gloves can cause Type IV allergy, presenting as chronic dermatitis of the hands and wrists.

Weakness in gloves is as much a factor of glove quality and raw material choice as it is thickness.

Nitrile gloves made with poor quality raw materials may have increased levels of cyanide within the glove

Many disposable gloves are not properly formulated or processed. They are often under-cured and do not last long in application with high levels of failure, especially for puncture resistance.

Understanding glove certification

The ASTM Certification Program covers products (including materials, processes, and services) and personnel for industries that desire an independent third-party demonstration of compliance to standards and/or are facing regulatory pressures to prove compliance to standards.

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EN 455 is one of the most important EN Standards, regulating single use medical work gloves.

The glove must adhere to four separate parts before it is considered safe to be used for medical practice. The four parts are: 

• Part 1: Requirements and testing of gloves for freedom from holes
• Part 2: Requirements and tests for physical properties
• Part 3: Requirements and tests for biological evaluation
• Part 4: Requirements and testing for shelf -life determination

Between them they ensure that the glove will be a barrier against micro-organisms, perform effectively without breaking, protect the user from toxic and hazardous materials, and lastly how long a glove will be fit for use.

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ISO 13485:2016 specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to provide medical devices and related services that consistently meet customer and applicable regulatory requirements.

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ISO 9001 is defined as the international standard that specifies requirements for a quality management system (QMS). Organizations use the standard to demonstrate the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements.

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The CE mark is required for all new products which are subject to one or more of the European product safety Directives. It is a visible sign that the manufacturer of the product is declaring conformity with all the Directives relating to that product.

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SAHPRA license is required as a South African supplier of medical devices or products. The license evaluates whether a supplier is competent, knowledgeable and complies to operational standards and protocols.