Safety Fits Like a Glove with KBC Tools

gloves sandblast welding sandblasting general utility

In the United States, June is National Safety Month with a focus on highlighting leading causes of preventable injury and death. Let's work together to make people safer this June and all year long! (In Canada, May 6-11 is Safety and Health Week.)

“Over the more than 30 years that I have been in the metalworking industry I can’t tell you how many machinists that I have met or salesmen who used to be machinist sporting a missing part of a finger or two when I went to shake their hand,” says Paula Bass, President, KBC Tools & Machinery. Well, it is true that accidents do happen, but as we all know our hands are the tools we live by, especially in the manufacturing industry. So, let’s talk about how to protect those 10 digits and 2 of our biggest assets in creating, machining, and bringing home the bacon.

Most of you have a pile of t-shirts in your closet: your favorite snarky saying for those sarcastic days, ones with small holes on the belly for welding, Jackson Pollock paint splattered t-shirts for painting projects, the brand new t-shirt in the plastic bag for a special event, and more. Just like that closet full of t-shirts, if you work in industry, you need a whole wardrobe of gloves to keep your hands safe and working optimally. And just like that closet full of t-shirts, you need to know when it is appropriate to wear the one that says, “I am a machinist. I make things, not fix ‘em,” and when it’s not.
Here are a few of your must haves for your safety, comfort, protection, warmth, dryness, heat protection, and more.

Cold Weather Gloves: When it is wet and/or cold outside or in unheated work areas these are the gloves for you. Waterproof and warm these gloves give comfort and protect your hands from the elements. Many of these gloves come with reflective strips so that you are seen when working in areas with vehicular traffic. These gloves are what you need when operating heavy outdoor equipment, doing electrical safety work, hunting, or working in cold storage facilities.

Cotton & Knit Gloves: Cotton gloves keep your hands clean and protected from dirt and every day dust and particles. Terry cloth gloves are absorbent when working in wet environments. Kevlar knit gloves protect from cuts, sharp objects, and are abrasion resistant. Did you know that Kevlar won’t melt, ignite, or conduct electricity, which makes them the right gloves for HVAC, manufacturing, warehouse, food service, and glass handling environments.

General Utility Gloves: When you need to protect your hands from the daily wear and tear of working with rough, oily, and sharp materials, these gloves give you the flexibility to get the job done, They come with touchscreen technology, because you are never far from a smart device, they are machine washable, breathable, reinforced where wear traditionally occurs, and have a convenient hook and loop wrist adjustment so that they fit comfortably and snuggly. These gloves are what you need for demolition, fabrication, automotive, construction, general maintenance, and order picking. Name brands include: MCR Safety, Milwaukee, Legacy, and Ironclad.

Latex & Rubber Gloves: Did you know that Latex is biodegradable and naturally anti-microbial and anti-bacterial? Latex is also great when you need to have dexterity and feeling to your touch. It is the perfect glove for electronic assembly and other small part assembly. For those allergic or sensitive to Latex, gloves made from Nitrile, a synthetic Latex, are a great choice. Did you know that Nitrile is 3x more puncture resistant than leather and is resistant to many types of chemicals? This makes Nitrile gloves a good choice for painting, janitorial, health, and food work. Vinyl gloves are also offered and make a good choice for food processing and light industrial work. The gloves are available in small, medium, large, and extra large, and are ambidextrous – yep, there is no more losing the right or the left one.

Leather Gloves and Welding Gloves: Leather gloves give you the protection from sharp objects and heat. These gloves come unlined, insulated, foam lined, fleece lined, or wool lined with reinforced palms and thumbs for use with no heat or high heat. Choose the right one for your job for use in automotive assembly, ship building, construction, steel and iron work, foundries, welding, Mig/Tig/Heliarc. These are also great gloves to use when cleaning up metal chips from a machine to avoid metal slivers and cuts. As mama said, “When things get hot, don’t touch the stove.”

Sandblast Gloves: These heavy duty rubber gloves attach to the openings in your sandblaster to allow you the ability to handle your parts to place, handle during sandblasting, or inspect without abrading your skin. They come in 18” and 24” lengths for your convenience.

WARNING: Gloves provide great protection to your hands on a daily basis. Still, you cannot wear gloves where the possibility of the material of the glove catching in a piece of equipment may occur as it can be very dangerous and lead to loss of digits, limbs, and even life. Some examples of when not to use gloves are: the operation of a bandsaw, lathe, milling machine, drill press, or other machines with spinning or rotating parts. Gloves can be safely used when the machine is not under power to set up machining jobs or to load stock. Workers also need to ensure that the right glove is used for chemicals to avoid chemical hazards eating the glove material or seeping through the glove and causing chemical reactions with the skin.

KBC Tools & Machinery offers a wide variety of gloves and other PPE equipment in stock to keep you safe at home and on the job.