Gloves are extremely important in keeping yourself safe while renovating your space.
You’re more likely to be at risk of sustaining avoidable injuries if you aren’t using suitable gloves for the task you are trying to complete.
This article will highlight:
- The importance of wearing gloves for household renovation.
- Different types of gloves.
- The consequences you may face for wearing unsuitable gloves.
- The benefits of wearing gloves.
The importance of wearing gloves for household renovation.
Household renovation is a task that should not be taken lightly. It is easy to overlook less-obvious but important steps that ensure your household decoration progresses swiftly, but that you’re also being safe whilst doing it.
There are plenty of ways that you can ensure that your health and safety are monitored. But gloves are far less taken into account when thinking about safety, especially when the task being completed seems menial.
Many incidents can occur while redecorating. For example, a tool could overheat and burn you, jagged materials can cut you, or you could come into contact with harmful bacteria. These are some of the many reasons why gloves are considered necessary personal protective equipment.
Different types of gloves.
It can be daunting to learn how many varieties of gloves are available, but learning about the different types of gloves and their functions will help you make changes in your house and feel safe doing it.
- Nitrile Gloves
Nitrile gloves are extremely resilient and durable, so far less likely to puncture or tear than other gloves. Used ordinarily in high-risk environments (such as chemical manufacturing and laboratory work) nitrile gloves can be used within the home to handle corrosive materials like bleach and rust-removers.
- Vinyl Gloves
Vinyl gloves best perform in low-risk situations such as average household cleaning, where chances of punctures and corrosion are minimal or non-existent.
Vinyl gloves are water resistant and are not as durable as nitrile gloves, which makes them perfect for normal household use.
- Latex Gloves
Latex gloves share a lot of properties with vinyl gloves, except latex gloves are an allergen and can only be used by those not allergic to latex.
Latex gloves should only be used in low-risk situations, such as household cleaning.
- Work Gloves
Work gloves, categorically, include the widest variety of specialised gloves that you can buy. Work gloves can be made from a combination of rubber and fabric to extend their durability and allow them to be more suited to heavy-duty tasks like fitting doors and windows, as well as electrical work and plumbing.
The consequences you may face for wearing unsuitable gloves.
There are many consequences to not wearing suitable gloves. Listed below are some potential risks of wearing the wrong gloves and some recommendations on which gloves to wear to avoid injury.
- Chemical Burns
Average latex gloves are not made to handle corrosive materials, and failure to use the correct type of gloves can result in hazardous chemicals touching your skin and causing a reaction.
Handling highly-corrosive substances requires the protection of a durable pair of gloves, which is why nitrile gloves are recommended instead of different rubbers.
- Slipping
If you’re working in a space where water leakage may be an issue, it is important to wear gloves with extra grip because you may fall and injure yourself.
Although rubber gloves are waterproof, they don’t tend to provide any extra grip. However, there are gloves available that have both properties that make working with water far easier, such as Pawa Latex Coated Water Resistant Grip Gloves.
- Cuts
You could sustain cuts from a number of tasks, from installing a radiator to sawing wood.
Specialised gloves are available with reinforced qualities to minimise accidents, such as thumb pads for better grip, abrasion resistance, and even cut resistance, made especially for tasks that may carry more risks.
- Electrocution
If you choose to do non-notifiable electrical work, you should use gloves that are designed for that purpose.
Electrician gloves are made from rubber because rubber is a terrible electrical conductor. But gloves are available to protect you from specific voltage levels, in case you’re working with electrics of higher voltages.
You should always check what voltage level you’ll be dealing with and purchase your gloves accordingly.
Gloves that don’t have a voltage protection rating should not be used for electricity.
- Splinters
Any level of carpentry comes with a risk of splinters, from building a table to installing a door. So it’s important to use puncture-resistant gloves when working with materials that could pierce your skin and potentially cause an infection.
Nitrile gloves are best for preventing splinters, as the rubber is thick enough to prevent damage to your hands, whilst still allowing you the dexterity you need to perform the job properly.
- Contact with harmful bacteria
If you’re cleaning a space that hasn’t been cleaned for a long time or treating a space that is covered in mould, you should wear gloves to protect yourself from the potentially harmful bacteria which may be present.
Simple latex gloves protect against bacteria, but they shouldn’t be used for more heavy-duty tasks.
The benefits of wearing gloves.
Gloves protect against more than just bacteria. There are plenty of variations of gloves that can effectively protect your hands from external forces such as water, electricity, and physical injury from sharp objects.
We hope that by reading this post, you have a greater awareness of the different types of available gloves and the consequences you could face by not wearing suitable gloves for your house renovation.
