Space-age technology keeping hands safer
January 1st 2006 Technological advances over the last decade have led to better hand protection in both the industrial and mainstream sectors. Marigold Industrial's John Thorne highlights some of the latest materials protecting UK workers.
The last decade has seen the greatest developments and advances in the history of hand protection, thanks to the evolution of a range of fibres and materials that have brought new benefits to workers in the UK.
In fact, such has been the development of knitted industrial gloves, that it is now the fastest growing sector of hand protection in the UK.
This new era of hand protection can be traced back to developments made within NASA and the requirements of the armed forces which saw the evolution of bulletand stab resistant vests, shrapnel resistant helmets, armour plating on vehicles, planes and helicopters, anti-mine boots and tethers used to strap astronauts to the shuttle during space walks.
Fibre technologies that were originally developed and utilised by scientists at the space agency, by military and police forces across the globe and the marine industry are now being used to create the latest breed of hand protection for industrial workers.
Take a visit to the Marigold Industrial glove-knitting plant in Portugal and you will see just how this technology is being embraced by glove manufacturers, shaping the way that cut, abrasion and thermal resistant knitted gloves are made today.
More like a science lab than a manufacturing plant, row upon row of hitech knitting machines, watched over by highly trained technicians, all synchronised to computer programmed glove designs, operate at a blistering pace 24/7 to create the latest high level hand protection.
Within minutes, the fully automated machines can knit a glove or sleeve capable of safeguarding the hands and arms of people handling razor sharp metal sheets or working in sub zero environments.
But material technology advances mean improvements not only in the protection against common hazards such as cuts, burns and abrasions (in addition to chemical hazards) but has also seen increased comfort, choice and dexterity provided by hand protection.
Fibre development
Until the development of fibres such as Dyneema (claimed to be the world's toughest fibre, the hollow core thermo active fibre being used in Marigold Industrial's latest glove the PX Insulator for those working in sub zero temperatures), alongside the highly cut resistant Texcor fibre and the more established fibres such as Kevlar and Spectra, protecting hands from cuts, heat and cold meant wearing large, often cumbersome and uncomfortable thick gauntlets, which lacked both comfort and dexterity.
A decade ago knitting safety gloves with steel and glass fibre was unheard of.
Today these fibres are incorporated into knitted glove ranges and play a central role in specialist cut resistant solutions.
Yet many people are initially sceptical that something as light and flexible as a knitted glove can provide better protection against common industrial hazards than more traditional heavy gauntlet style gloves. But the reality is that they do and the use of these fibres has quite literally transformed the hand protection industry, enabling leading manufacturers to provide increasingly specialist solutions. Think about it: if it's good enough for NASA and the armed forces - facing some of the harshest, hazardous environments both on and off the planet - it will surely stand up to the rigours of industrial plant work.
Pace of change
Such is the pace at which fibres are being developed that manufacturers are constantly looking at the next generation of knitted fibre hand protection. It is highly unlikely however that the hand protection market will change as dramatically over the next ten years in the way it has over the past decade.
What is guaranteed is that fibre technology will continue to play a significant role in industrial hand protection, providing solutions where none currently exist - meaning the future is literally in safer hands.
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