We will cover the topic of Rubber Insulating Gloves in two sections because this item is such an important part of Electrical Safety.
Someone on your company's team should be responsible for ordering, tracking, issuing, retrieving expired gloves, sending gloves for testing and re-issuing gloves. It's important that all of these things are handled consistently among employees so it's recommended a good system be put into place.
Rubber insulating gloves received from the supplier need to have a test date on them when they are received. The glove can never be used when older than one year from the date stamped on the glove and can not be in service for longer than six months, see more information here https://www.70econsultants.com/how-often-should-i-test-my-voltage-rated-gloves/. This makes it very important to verify test dates when they are received as new. If rubber insulating gloves have a test date older than ~4 months (or no date) then we suggest sending back to the supplier.
Remember to purchase rubber insulating gloves based on voltage exposure to employees. We suggest a pair of Class 0 gloves for each employee working on 480V or below (Class 00 only when the entire facility is 240V or less). An alternating rubber insulating glove color program is suggested to help ensure all gloves in use are in the proper test cycle (i.e. black Jan-Jun and red Jul-Dec). This program creates a visual verification of proper gloves being in use.
Electrically Qualified Persons shall not share gloves to comply with bloodborne pathogen policies.
Each pair of rubber insulating gloves shall be collected by the Operations Management Team no later than six months after being issued and sent to a qualified tester, regardless of visual appearance (even if it looks good and passes a daily air test, it still needs sent for testing).
A leather protector alone does not provide electrical insulating protection. Rubber insulating gloves shall be ordered with a matching pair of leather protectors (leather gloves that go over the rubber gloves). Leather protectors shall be at least ½” shorter than Class 0 rubber gloves and at least 2” shorter than Class 2 rubber gloves. See the graphic below for information on rubber insulating glove length vs. leather protector length.
Leather protectors are sized to be worn on the same size rubber insulating glove so if an employee wears a size 10 rubber insulating glove, then a size 10 leather protector should be ordered.
Glove tracking is essential for maintaining shock protection. Each rubber insulating gloves should have a unique identifier when it is received from the supplier. The below picture is of rubber insulating glove # 6713518 right hand.
Below is an example label from the same rubber insulating glove after it was tested. The rubber insulating glove shows the date “MAR 19 2015”, this tester indicated that it is R14 (another unique identifier).
The end user should not place markings on the rubber insulating gloves as some inks can cause damage to the integrity of the rubber. Furthermore, the qualified glove tester will try to remove any markings that are on the glove and the chemicals used for removal can further damage the rubber.
Leather protectors are not uniquely identified from a supplier nor are they required to be matched to a specific pair of rubber insulating gloves however this is a good location to indicate expiration dates easy for the employee to see. It is critical to keep leather protectors with the matching rubber insulating glove if this method is used. Below is an example of utilizing the leather protector to identify when the rubber insulating glove needs to be pulled from service:
OSHA regulation 1910.137(b)(2)(xii) states the employer shall certify that equipment has been tested in accordance with the requirements of paragraphs (b)(2)(viii), (b)(2)(ix), and (b)(2)(xi) of this section. The certification shall identify the equipment that passed the test and the date it was tested.
- Note: Marking of equipment and entering the results of the tests and the dates of testing onto logs are two acceptable means of meeting this requirement.
A spreadsheet, database or maintenance program is also recommended for tracking rubber insulating gloves.