Unseen Risks: The Dangers of Glove Ripping

Tired of dealing with glove ripping? This blog outlines the five major risks associated with glove tears and offers solutions to protect your staff, customers, and maintain compliance with business regulations.

Wearing gloves is compulsory across various industries, from food processing to healthcare, to safeguard the food being handled or the patients being cared for. Gloves serve as a protective barrier for both the wearer and the items they handle.

There are several reasons why gloves rip, including improper sizing and punctures from sharp objects, but the most common cause is poor glove quality, which diminishes strength, elasticity, and overall performance. While larger holes are noticeable to the wearer, smaller defects often go unnoticed.

What are the Main Risks of a Torn Glove?

1. Contamination

   
   Exposure for Glove Wearers: Ripped gloves offer inadequate protection against chemicals and pathogens, leaving workers susceptible to exposure to hazardous materials. For healthcare professionals and first responders, maintaining glove quality is crucial to minimise the risk of accidental exposure to substances like illicit fentanyl. 
   
   Food Contamination: Despite gloves being worn by food handlers to prevent hand contamination, a CDC report from 2023 found that over 40% of food borne illness outbreaks in retail food establishments were linked to sick food workers. Both bare-hand and gloved-hand contact with ready-to-eat food were among the top six contributing factors. This is because human hands can harbour up to 10 million microorganisms, and when combined with sweat (often exacerbated by low-quality gloves), poor hand hygiene, and a glove puncture, contamination can occur.
   
   Research has shown that up to 18,000 Staphylococci bacteria can pass through a single glove hole in a 20-minute period, even when the hands were washed for 10 minutes before gloving. When a glove tear happens, a liquid bridge of microbial contamination can transfer from hands to food.
   
   Keep this in mind the next time your glove rips! Despite the proven risks of food borne contamination associated with torn gloves, FDA compliance for food handling gloves does not involve testing for holes or performance. Durable, high-quality gloves and proper hand hygiene are essential for preventing food borne illness outbreaks.
   
   

2. Glove Fragments in Food

   Physical contamination from glove fragments in food can disrupt production lines, leading to costly stoppages. Foreign material contamination, like glove fragments that caused this product recall, can tarnish a brand's reputation and result in financial losses.
   
   

3. Decreased Worker Efficiency

   Changing gloves and washing hands between changes consumes excessive time and is inefficient, with frequent hand washing contributing to skin problems. Reports of workers wearing multiple gloves to avoid disruptions in workflow are not uncommon, increasing the risk of contamination.
   
   

4. Impacted ROI: Increased Costs & Waste

   Frequent glove ripping can double a company's glove usage, leading to obvious cost and waste increases. Moreover, the production inefficiencies caused by using low-quality gloves directly affect company profits. Cheap gloves can have a negative impact on long-term ROI.
   
   

5. Non-Compliance with Regulations

   In regulated industries such as healthcare and food handling, using damaged gloves (often with unnoticed small holes) can result in non-compliance. In food processing, using cheap and inferior quality gloves may not meet Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) requirements. FDA Title 21 Part 110 - Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP 21 CFR 110.10) stipulates that gloves must be in an "intact, clean, and sanitary condition" and made from "impermeable" material.
   
   Despite FDA GMP standards, there is no requirement for acceptable quality levels (AQL) for food handling gloves compliant with FDA (21 CFR 177) regulations. This means there are no critical quality control standards for assessing the level of defects in food-grade gloves. Microbial contamination can pass through a glove defect, often unnoticed by the wearer. Unlike food handling gloves, an AQL of 2.5 is the industry standard for examination gloves, ensuring consistent and acceptable quality and performance.
   
   Read more about why we recommend using medical-grade gloves with an AQL of 2.5 for food handling.
   

Solutions to Glove Ripping

1. Quality Assurance in Procurement: When purchasing gloves, ensure they come from reputable manufacturers or suppliers that adhere to strict quality control measures and provide traceability in the supply chain.
2. Tested Durability: Consistent and proven glove quality and performance are essential to avoid the risks of glove tearing. Can your supplier provide independent performance tests and factory audits?
3. Medical-Grade Quality: We suggest that food processing companies insist on an AQL of 2.5 (maximum pinhole defects per 100 gloves), consistent with examination-grade glove standards, in their glove sourcing specifications.
4. Glove Trials: Due to limited compliance measures on imports, glove trials are necessary to determine actual glove quality and performance.
5. Selecting the Right Glove Type: Choose the appropriate glove material for the task. For instance, nitrile gloves are renowned for their durability and resistance to tearing. Polyethylene gloves can be suitable for light industrial use as well as light food processing, handling, and assembly. We ceased the sale of vinyl gloves in 2018 due to food safety, wearer, and environmental risks.
6. Correct Sizing: Ensure multiple glove sizes are available to ensure every team member has a properly fitting glove. This is essential.
   

Not sure which disposable glove is suitable for you? Check out our food safety glove selection guide or consult with our Eagle sales team for your solution.