Policy on Safety Hand Gloves
Introduction:
Our hands are finely tuned instruments that can perform routine and complex tasks. They are also precision tools that make people highly skilled and values workers. Hand injuries are the most common type of injuries in any industrial work premises. Use of right type of gloves can prevent many of these injuries.
Purpose:
Establish general guidelines in the selection, correct use and storage of Safety Hand Gloves.
Scope:
This policy is applicable to all permanent and contract employees of Tata Power Co Ltd, including the workers of contract companies working in the premises of the Tata Power / executing any work related to Tata Power.
Policy:
This Policy provides guidelines on the selection, use and storage of Safety Hand Gloves depending on the type of the task/work. All employees of Tata Power and also employees of contractor / sub-contractor must use hand gloves for protection of hand against work related risk of injury or when harm through skin exposure is likely and methods of control other than protective gloves are not reasonably practicable.
Selection:
Selection of Gloves should be specific to the type of work for example leather gloves are used in welding, cutting and gridding works, insulated rubber gloves in electrical works to prevent electrical shock etc.
Manager / Supervisor shall provide information on use of specific type of hand gloves for specific type of work after evaluating and determining physical conditions job, demands of job and from what protection is needed. Factors to be considered while selecting the type of gloves include
· Type of Material/Chemical handled
· Nature and length of contact
· Protection area requirement
· Grip Requirement
· Thermal Protection requirement
· Size and comfort requirement
· Abrasion resistance requirement
Use of right sized glove is essential for minimizing fatigue and chafing. Size of Hand Glove can be determined either by measuring circumference of Palm or by measuring the length from the tip of mid finger to the cuff of shirt. The protective gloves must be of good quality and appropriate to their work as per relevant IS codes such as Leather gloves for handling sharp metal, using knives or similar cutting tools, conforming to IS 6994(Part I)-1973 and Rubber Gloves for Concrete works, Electrical works conforming to IS 4770-1991 etc.
Use:
Use of Hand glove for a specific job should be as per the recommendations of manufacturers and as per the safe work practice followed by the organization. Manager / Supervisor will provide information/training on correct use of gloves. Manager / Supervisor will keep the record of manufacturer instructions on the safe usage of Hand Gloves for reference.
Employee shall use gloves appropriate for the work, inspect gloves before and after use to detect weaknesses or defects, check the gloves are a good fit with their hand (should be able to try on samples and the range of glove sizes available), wash dirty hands and dry before wearing gloves and immediately after removing gloves, ensure existing cuts, scratches etc are covered with a clean dry dressing prior to wearing gloves, report to their Manager / Supervisor if damaged gloves are not readily replaceable, comply with manufacturers’ instructions, remove contaminated gloves prior to handling other items and dispose of contaminated gloves properly.
Use of protective gloves is mandatory for following work activities
Ø Handling of heavy materials and rigging work
Ø Erection and dismantling of scaffolding
Ø Glass wool insulation and cladding work
Ø Welding, gas cutting work
Ø Handling of garbage
Ø Hand grinding machine
Ø Civil concreting work
Ø Civil reinforcement work
Ø Handling of hazardous / corrosive chemicals in plant & laboratories
Ø Electrical work having risk of electrocution / flashing
Ø Handling of petroleum products
Storage:
All hand gloves should be cleaned, dried and stored as per the instructions provided by the manufacturer. Manager / Supervisor will provide information / training on the correct storage of Hand Gloves. Manager / Supervisor should also keep a record of manufacturers’ instructions for the cleaning and storage also to be kept for reference.
Doc.No. CS-PGL-016 Page 1 of 2 Revision No.-001