EN 374 Protective Gloves Against Hazardous Chemicals and Microorganisms

The European standard “EN 374 Protective gloves against hazardous chemicals and microorganisms” consists of the following subsections published under the same title:

• EN ISO 374-1 Part 1: Terminology and performance requirements for chemical risks” describes the requirements for protective gloves intended to protect the wearer against hazardous chemicals and defines the terms to be used. If other protective properties need to be covered, for example mechanical risks, thermal risks, electrostatic dissipation and similar, the appropriate specific performance standard must be used in addition. However, this standard does not specify the requirements for protection against any mechanical hazards. More information on protective glove standards is available in “EN 420 Protective gloves - General requirements and test methods”.

For the purposes of this standard, the following terms and definitions apply:

• Protective glove material refers to any material or combination of materials used in a glove for the purpose of insulating the hands or hands and arms from direct contact with a chemical or microorganism.
• Protective gloves against microorganisms: When tested to this standard, penetration-resistant gloves are believed to provide an effective barrier against bacteria and fungi. This assumption does not apply to protection against viruses.
• Deterioration is a detrimental change in one or more properties of the protective glove material due to contact with a chemical. These changes include flaking, swelling, disintegration, brittleness, discoloration, dimensions, appearance, hardening and softening.
• Penetration is the movement of a chemical or microorganism at a non-molecular level through porous materials, seams, pinholes, or other defects in the protective glove material.
• Permeation is the process by which a chemical moves through the protective glove material at a molecular level. Permeation includes:
  • The absorption of molecules of a chemical into the (external) surface of a material with which it comes into contact.
  • Diffusion of absorbed molecules in the material.
  • Desorption of molecules from the opposite (inner) surface of the material.
• The test chemical is the chemical or mixture of chemicals used to determine the permeation time under laboratory test conditions. The chemical must be one that causes adverse effects on the skin or the human body through skin contact.
• Breakthrough time is the time elapsed between the initial application of a test chemical to the outer surface of the protective glove material and its subsequent presence on the other side of the material.

Detailed test methods are described in other parts of this standard: penetration in EN 374-2 and permeation in EN 374-3.

• The standard EN ISO 374-2 Part 2: Determination of resistance to penetration” describes a test method for the penetration resistance of gloves providing protection against hazardous chemicals or microorganisms.

Air leak test: A glove is immersed in water and its interior is pressurized with air. Leakage is detected by a stream of air bubbles coming from the surface of the glove.

Water leak test: A glove is filled with water. Leakage is detected by the appearance of water droplets on the outside of the glove.

The air leakage procedure is not suitable for all gloves. For example, some parts of the glove may be over-inflated while other parts of the same glove may be only partially inflated. If the air leakage test is not suitable, only the water penetration test is performed. For both methods, leakages within 40 mm from the edge of the liquid-tight area are ignored.

• EN ISO 374-3 Part 3 “Determination of resistance to permeation by chemicals” describes a procedure for determining the resistance of protective glove materials to permeation by potentially hazardous non-gaseous chemicals under continuous contact conditions. It is emphasised that this test method is not representative of the conditions likely to be found in service and that the use of the test data should be limited to comparing materials on a relative basis, primarily within broad breakthrough time categories.

The resistance of a protective glove material to permeation by a solid or liquid chemical is determined by measuring the time it takes for the chemical to pass through the glove material. In a permeation tester, the glove material separates the test chemical from the collecting medium. The collecting medium, which can be a gas, liquid or solid, is quantitatively analyzed for the concentration of the chemical and therefore the amount of chemical that passes through the barrier after initial contact with the glove material.

• EN ISO 374-4 Part 4 “Determination of resistance to degradation by chemicals” describes a test method for determining the resistance of protective glove materials to degradation by hazardous chemicals under continuous contact. The standard appendix provides information on interlaboratory test results for this method (Annex A). Other tests used to assess chemical resistance, such as permeation resistance and penetration resistance, may not provide sufficient information about changes in physical properties affecting a glove during exposure to a chemical. The outer surface of the glove must be exposed to the chemical.

The resistance of a protective glove material to degradation by a liquid chemical is determined by measuring the change in puncture resistance after continuous contact of the outer surface of the glove material with the challenge test chemical. The test is valid for gloves made of natural or synthetic polymers. Lined gloves may produce unusable measurement results.

• The standard “EN 374-5 Part 5: Terminology and performance requirements related to risks from microorganisms” describes the requirements and test methods for protective gloves intended to protect the user against microorganisms. If other protective properties are needed, for example chemical risks, mechanical risks, thermal risks, electrostatic dissipation, the appropriate specific performance standard must be used in addition. More information on protective glove standards is available in the EN 420 standard.

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