Department of Biology
Protective gloves
- Appropriate gloves should always be worn when handling hazardous substances, very hot, very cold, sharp or otherwise dangerous objects
- Disposable gloves should be worn when considered necessary:
- to protect workers against some biological or chemical hazards
- to protect samples from contamination e.g. tissue culture work
- Disposable gloves must not be used if their use increases the overall risk of harm arising e.g.
- gloves should NOT be worn when working in close proximity to a naked flame (e.g. using a Bunsen burner when applying aseptic technique for microbial work) as their use increases the chance of burn injuries if the glove melts
- unnecessary, excessive wearing of disposable gloves for low risk activities can lead to skin irritation and potentially cause allergy e.g. to latex
- Nitrile gloves are recommended for general ‘splash protection’. For high risk exposure activities (beyond ‘splash protection’) specific glove types and thicknesses will need to be considered as part of a specific risk assessment
- Disposable gloves should not be worn in communal areas. They should be removed before leaving lab areas, avoiding causing concern to the casual bystander (real or not) that gloves are spreading contamination around the Department
- The use of gloves should not be required when transporting materials from one lab area to another- any hazardous materials should be adequately contained (double containment required), presenting no risk to you or others. If gloves are considered necessary, only one glove should be used (the other, 'clean' ungloved hand, is used to open doors on route between labs.)
- It is the responsibility of individual groups to make sure that new workers are made aware that this practice should be followed as part of local induction training given to workers, and to monitor compliance.