IRSST - Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail

Interlaboratory evaluation of gloves designed to reduce exposure to hand-arm vibration

Abstract

Many authors have described the pathological effects resulting from the use of vibrating manual tools such as pneumatic drills, grinders and drills. They group problems of a vascular, neurological and musculoskeletal nature. Antivibration gloves, made of resilient materials such as rubber, neoprene or polyurethane, are one possible means of reducing worker exposure to hand-arm vibration. The publication in 1996 of international standard ISO 10819, which defined a method for the laboratory evaluation of such gloves, revealed problems of measurement reproducibility. In 1998, the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) in England launched an interlaboratory evaluation program to determine the origin of these variations and to modify the standard, if need be. At the same time, the IRSST implemented its own series of tests.
It was in this context that four types of antivibration gloves were evaluated in three different laboratories by applying the method prescribed in ISO 10819. The report describes the results of these evaluations and compares them to those obtained in the 1998 English study.

Additional Information

Type: Project
Number: 0099-1000
Status: Completed
Year of completion: 2003
Team:
  • Paul-Émile Boileau (IRSST)