Two scales, two units, one hand. This guide sets out the EN 388:2016+A1:2018 marking position by position, the ANSI/ISEA 105-2016 cut levels in full, and an approximate cross reference between them, so you can read either marking and specify against the one your own paperwork uses.
A South African buyer sees both markings, often on the same shelf, because this market imports hand protection from Europe and from North America. One glove is marked with a shield pictogram and six characters. The next is marked A4. Neither marking is wrong, and neither is a translation of the other. They come from two separate systems, written for two separate regulatory environments, and the sensible response is to learn to read both rather than to pick a favourite.
Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act the employer has to assess the hazard and provide suitable protective equipment. Nothing in that duty tells you which marking scheme to prefer. What it does require, in practice, is that whoever signs off the glove can explain why it suits the task. That is a reading exercise, and it is what the rest of this page is for.
EN 388:2016+A1:2018 results are printed as six characters underneath the shield pictogram, always in the same order. Read them left to right.
The coup test runs one blade for the whole test. High performance yarns such as glass and steel composites blunt that blade as the test proceeds, which flatters the result. When the blade dulls beyond the permitted tolerance, the coup result is invalidated and an X is printed in position two. An X is not a failure and it is not a gap in the certification. It tells you the coup method was inappropriate for that material, and that the letter in position five is the figure to specify against.
The TDM test to ISO 13997 uses a fresh blade on every pass and reports the load, in newtons, required to cut through at twenty millimetres of blade travel. Because the blade is new each time, the letter is directly comparable across very different materials, which is exactly why it was added.
| Level | Blade force |
|---|---|
| A | 2 N or more |
| B | 5 N or more |
| C | 10 N or more |
| D | 15 N or more |
| E | 22 N or more |
| F | 30 N or more |
ANSI/ISEA 105 is the North American classification standard for hand protection. It is broader than cut alone, covering properties such as abrasion, puncture, chemical permeation and heat, but in day to day purchasing it is the cut level that gets quoted, because that is the number that ends up in the specification.
The cut classification runs from A1 to A9 and is expressed in grams of load required to cut through with a straight blade under the ASTM F2992 test method. Nine bands across the range means finer resolution at the top end than the European letters give, which is genuinely useful where a site is trying to distinguish between two very high performance gloves.
| Level | Blade force |
|---|---|
| A1 | 200 to 499 g |
| A2 | 500 to 999 g |
| A3 | 1000 to 1499 g |
| A4 | 1500 to 2199 g |
| A5 | 2200 to 2999 g |
| A6 | 3000 to 3999 g |
| A7 | 4000 to 4999 g |
| A8 | 5000 to 5999 g |
| A9 | 6000 g or more |
This cross reference is approximate. Both scales now use the same family of straight blade test method, ISO 13997 for EN and ASTM F2992 for ANSI, which makes comparison meaningful in a way it was not before 2016. The bands still do not line up exactly, and a single EN letter can span more than one ANSI level. Use the table to orient yourself, then specify the glove against the standard your own paperwork uses rather than converting a rating from one scale to the other.
| EN 388 level | Newtons | Approximate ANSI band |
|---|---|---|
| A | 2 N or more | A1 |
| B | 5 N or more | A1 to A2 |
| C | 10 N or more | A2 to A3 |
| D | 15 N or more | A3 to A4 |
| E | 22 N or more | A4 to A6 |
| F | 30 N or more | A6 and above |
Specify the one your compliance file is written in. If your safety documentation, your group standard or your customer's purchase specification is written in ANSI levels, then an ANSI rating is what you need on the paperwork, and a CE mark on its own will not close that requirement out. If your documentation is written around EN markings, specify the EN letter. Converting a rating so that it appears to match a document written in the other scale creates a gap that will be found later, usually during an audit.
Where a buyer has a free hand, the useful position is a glove that carries a mandatory full EN test panel and also carries an ANSI rating where that is needed. That combination gives you the complete mechanical picture and the number a North American file expects, without a conversion step in between.
In the European Union, CE marking under PPE Regulation 2016/425 is legally required before a glove can be sold. For Category II and Category III gloves that means independent testing by a Notified Body, and the whole EN 388 mechanical panel is tested and reported: abrasion, cut, tear and puncture. The manufacturer does not choose which of those four to publish.
ANSI/ISEA 105 is a voluntary consensus standard in North America. No body requires a glove to be tested before it is placed on sale, and the standard does not include a tear test.
The practical consequence is about disclosure rather than quality. A glove certified to EN reports its full mechanical profile by default, including its weaker properties, so a modest tear or puncture result is visible to you before you buy. A glove marketed on a single ANSI cut level may simply never have been tested for the others, which does not mean it would perform badly, only that the result is not in front of you. Plenty of excellent gloves are ANSI rated, and for a North American compliance file the ANSI rating is the one that counts. The distinction to hold onto is what each marking guarantees has been measured, not which brand of glove is better.
Across our range, every glove is EN certified, and selected lines additionally carry ANSI ratings.
The GRANBERG 9001 is marked EN 388:2016+A1:2018 (3X44FP) and carries ANSI A5. Read it position by position.
Now place the ANSI figure next to it. ANSI A5 is 2200 to 2999 grams, and EN level F begins at 30 newtons. Reading the approximate cross reference above, F sits at A6 and above, so the two ratings are not describing an identical measurement, and neither is contradicting the other. They are two independent tests reported in two units. The correct thing to write into a specification is the marking your file uses, quoted exactly as it appears on the glove, rather than a converted equivalent. The 9001 happens to give you both, which is precisely the position worth aiming for.
Not reliably. Both scales are now based on the same family of straight blade test, so a comparison is meaningful, but the bands do not line up and one EN letter can span more than one ANSI level. Use a cross reference to orient yourself, then specify the glove against the standard your own documentation uses and quote the marking exactly as it appears on the glove.
It means the coup test result was invalidated because the material blunted the test blade beyond the permitted tolerance, which is common with glass and steel composite yarns. It is not a failure. Specify against the TDM letter in the fifth position, which uses a fresh blade on every pass.
No, they answer different questions. CE marking under PPE Regulation 2016/425 is legally required in the European Union and forces the full EN 388 mechanical panel to be tested and reported. ANSI/ISEA 105 is a voluntary North American consensus standard without a tear test, and its ratings are what a North American compliance file needs. The difference is what each marking guarantees has been measured.
South African buyers routinely see both, because the market imports from Europe and from North America. Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act the employer must assess the hazard and provide suitable protective equipment, so the requirement is to read whichever marking is on the glove and match it to the task, rather than to insist on one scheme.
Every glove in our range is EN certified. Selected lines additionally carry ANSI ratings. The standards that apply to a specific model are listed in full on that product page, so check the individual product rather than assuming the whole range shares one set of markings.
Send the task, the sizes and the quantities and we will come back with a written quotation. Contact Knight Safety Gear.