ABSTRACT
Personal protective equipment, in this context gloves, is an essential factor in order to prevent or reduce direct skin contact to harmful agents. For practical purpose protective gloves can be classified into different types according to use and thickness:1
Type I: Disposable gloves (thickness: 0.007 to 0.25 mm) Type II: Household gloves (thickness: 0.20 to 0.40 mm) Type III: Industrial gloves (thickness: 0.36 to 0.85 mm) Type IV: Special gloves
or by weight:2
Ultra/very light weight: <0.20 mm Light weight: 0.20 to 0.31 mm Medium weight: 0.31 to 0.46 mm Heavy weight: >0.46 mm
As can be seen there are no sharp borderlines between the different types of gloves. Disposable gloves can be of different shapes, usually more or less transparent, with a
pale white or beige color. Some gloves are extremely thin, made of polymeric film material, sometimes mounted on paper and both available sterile and nonsterile. The most common disposable gloves are those manufactured by the dipping procedure described below. In recent years, gloves for special purposes have been developed, e.g., gloves with increased thickness on the fingertips designed for handling cytostatic agents and gloves made of polymeric materials with low allergenic properties aimed especially for those who have been sensitized to latex gloves.
