Chemical glove selection is the one area where a general purpose answer is genuinely unsafe. The correct glove depends on the specific substance, its concentration, the contact time and the temperature, and it has to be read off the certification rather than assumed.
Permeation is the chemical passing through the intact glove material at molecular level, with no visible sign. It is the mechanism that injures people who believed they were protected. EN ISO 374-1 reports it as a breakthrough time performance level from 1 to 6 against named test chemicals, and that number is the specification.
Decanting, sampling, hose connection and filter changes are the tasks where splash actually happens. Cuff length is part of the specification here, because a splash that runs inside a short cuff sits against the skin for the rest of the task.
EN ISO 374-5 covers protection against micro organisms, and only gloves that additionally pass the ISO 16604 test may carry the VIRUS marking beneath the biohazard pictogram. The pictogram without the word VIRUS covers bacteria and fungi only.
Warm process streams shorten breakthrough times, sometimes dramatically. A breakthrough level measured at laboratory temperature should not be assumed to hold at process temperature, so allow margin or select a heavier material.
Permeation, degradation and penetration are three different failure modes. Degradation is the material physically deteriorating, penetration is a leak through a pinhole or seam, and permeation is invisible transfer through intact material. A glove can pass one and fail another.
The type reflects how many of the standard test chemicals the glove resists for at least 30 minutes. Type A covers at least six, Type B at least three and Type C at least one. The type alone does not tell you whether your specific chemical is covered, so read the letter codes.
No. Resistance is chemical specific and concentration specific. Two solvents in the same family can give very different breakthrough times through the same material, so always select against the named substance and its concentration.
Where protection against viral transmission is needed. A glove may only carry the word VIRUS under the biohazard pictogram if it has passed the ISO 16604 penetration test in addition to EN ISO 374-5. The pictogram alone covers bacteria and fungi only.
Send the tasks, sizes and quantities you need and we will come back with a written quotation. Contact Knight Safety Gear.