It was all brought to the construction site on a cold Monday morning. The sun was not yet up, and the fresh cement and the noise of heavy machinery in the air overwhelmed the air. It was wet on the ground where the previous rain had fallen the night before, and the steel beams in the corner were gleaming in the dim orange light of the floodlights.
I was fresh in the job, and I wanted to make a name and like most of the beginners I believed that I could do anything. I held myself proudly, and was saying to myself that a strong will and strong self makes it. What I never thought at the time was how such a simple work safety gloves accessory in the form of a pair of gloves would become so special to me, not only as the accessory of protection, but of a constant reminder of how delicate and precious our hands really are.
The day I learned the hard way
On this particular morning I went down and touched a piece of steel using my bare hands. The sides were not sharp enough to cut, but smooth enough to rub against. Initially, the sting was not very severe, and I did not pay attention to the fact, I was determined not to be seen as a weak person in the presence of more mature and experienced employees.
My palms were red, crass and sore by the time I had carried a few beams away. My skin was full of small metal and grit splinters. I attempted to shake it off, but the pain could not be denied.
One of my colleagues saw me rubbing my hands and laughed at me knowingly.
“Didn’t anyone tell you? Work safety gloves , eh, round here they are not part of the uniform, they are survival equipment."
He threw me another pair of his work safety gloves. Initially, I did not pay much attention to it. They did not look to me like much of anything; they were another piece of cloth. However, when I put them on, I experienced the tight fit, the cushioning material, and the assurance that they gave me. It was like armor for my hands.
Little did I have an idea that the work safety gloves would rescue me from many injuries in the coming months.
Lessons learned through experience
Within the following weeks, I put on those work safety gloves daily. I soon found out that they were more than the prevention of cuts and scrapes, they made me feel confident. I did not hesitate when dealing with rough lumber. The palm was textured and thus offered a good grip when holding tools during the rain. My work safety gloves kept me warm even in the freezing morning when the wind was biting my bare skin.
I have one incident that I will never forget. We were offloading blocks of concrete supplied by a delivery truck. One block had started sliding and automatically I extended my hand to hold it. The block has smashed against my gloved hand. Had I not had those work safety gloves, I would have broken my fingers or ripped skin. Rather, I only heard the dull collision.
That was when I knew that these work safety gloves were not mere accessories but they were a life-line.
The bigger picture: Why work safety gloves matter
It is not so difficult to underestimate the role of work safety gloves in particular, this happens especially when you are young, strong and want to prove something. During the initial days, you are invincible and you believe that accidents are meant to happen to someone. But the truth of it is not so generous. One of the most prevalent types of accidents at the workplace in almost any industry construction, manufacturing, automotive repair, warehousing, agriculture, and innumerable other industries have hand injuries.
Consider it: hands are our major tools. They are the connection between desire and deed, the component of us that grasps, raises, directs, and forms. It is impossible without them to perform the bulk of the work which we so easily do as registering a nail, screwing a bolt, driving a machine. We usually assume our hands but then something bad happens.
One injury may modify the whole situation. I’ve seen it happen:
- Slashes and cuts which cause scarring or restrict movement. A slice on a tendon across the width of a piece of paper is enough to cause permanent loss of strength.
- Burns and chemical contact that permanently destroy the skin making it sensitive or discolored even after the wound has healed.
- Dashed fingers or broken machines or dropping materials, which may represent weeks or months off work.
- Amputation- worst scenario, to get one step without adequate protection, a person may lose a finger or even more to permanently change his or her livelihood.
The effects spread in all directions. A hand injury does not only slow down a production but it can even put food on a table of a worker. It may be lost wages, unpaid healthcare bills or even lack of being able to resume the same job. It is not only physical, but it is also emotional and financial.
That’s why work safety gloves matter. Work safety gloves are not a job easier or something on a safety checklist. They are about making sure that you will be in a position to continue with your job tomorrow, next week and many years to come. They are not just about keeping the job on, but also the worker, the family they support, and the career they have established.
In the course of time, I came to realize work safety gloves as something beyond a personal protection item. They are a protection of independence, of dignity, the mere capacity to continue to work proudly. Wearing a pair of work safety gloves is not the weakness to show anything, it is a sign of wisdom. It is that you know that being strong is not only what you can do in a certain instance, but how long you can sustain it.
The types of work safety gloves I’ve seen on the job
With time, I realized that not every glove was made equally. Every couple appeared to possess its reason, its own character, and even its history. There was variation of taste among different workers; each depending on the job they were to do:
- Work safety gloves made of leather to use when handling lumber and protecting against sparks of the welding.
- Mechanic nitrile-coated gloves were required due to the necessity to have grip and dexterity to turn a bolt or manage an oily object.
- Workers in sheet metal, glass or sharp-edged tools and objects that may slice through the skin within a second are provided with cut-resistant gloves.
- Thermal work safety gloves are used by those who work outdoors in winter and their breath is fogging in the chilly air as they struggle with the cold and the job.
- Any person that may be exposed to oils, solvents, or cleaning agents that may burn or irritate uncovered skin, should use chemical-resistant work safety gloves.
Each of the types was not merely a tool but represented the trade and the dangers that existed within it. The work safety gloves of a welder were charred and black at the same time due to millions of sparks and each burn mark was a medal won in the fire of work. The gloves of a carpenter had been worn away at the ends of his fingers, and were thin as veneer after years of constantly holding the handles of saws and rubbing wood. Mechanic gloves had hard-to-clean grease-stains that no soap could take off, and the work safety gloves of a roofer had a ragged appearance, abraded by the sharp lines of the shingles and the nails.
And then there were my own. My work safety gloves were scarred and marked and stained-marks of lessons learned and escapes made. Each scratch was an additional recollection of when they were between me and an injury I could have had forever.
More than just safety- A sense of belonging
The thing that impressed me the most, however, was that work safety gloves were not only about protection. Something more was in them: a feeling of belonging. There exists an unwritten rule on the site, which is to give a pair of work safety gloves to the people without them on the road. No questions asked. It is not only about adhering to safety rules and regulations but about watching each other.
I will never forget that day, when my colleague gave me that first pair. His hands were coarse and injured, his work safety gloves were already worn out with the years of labor. In that mere act he was not merely providing me protection; he was initiating me into the fraternity of unspoken brotherhood of workers who had experience of the importance of safety, who knew that each scar that goes unwritten was a story that was not written on your skin.
Eventually, I learned that gloves were some kind of a silent badge of honor. The manner in which you wore them, the state in which they were, the nature you selected--it all told something about what sort of work you did and what kind of experience you were bearing. An experienced laborer would just look at the work safety gloves of another employee and immediately identify the line of work that they were in, the problems they were having, and even how many years they had been working.
We were linked in our own simple fashion, through work safety gloves . They represented a symbol of duty, and respect to the job and care of the person standing next to you. And each time I dragged mine along I never felt unsafe-I felt like I was a part of it.
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Practical tips for choosing the right gloves
Among the frequent blunders, which new employees make, there is the belief that every glove will fit. Nevertheless, as when you should not hit a nail with a screwdriver, you should not hit a nail with a different glove. All kinds of work safety gloves are prepared to meet a certain task and the misuse of any of them can be equally hazardous as the absence of any glove.
- Familiarize yourself with your job: Before you get a pair of gloves, what type of job are you getting into? In case you are cutting or working with sharp-edged material such as sheet metal, you require reinforced cut-resistant gloves with special fibers. Oil, grease and lubricants Nitrile coated gloves will provide you with a confident grip that does not slip. Leather work safety gloves are also the old time favorite when welding or work in the vicinity of sparks due to their resistance to heat and abrasion.
- Check the fit: A glove with the wrong fit is not an advantage, but a menace. Loosely fitting gloves may blend in with nails, sharp edges or a rotating machine. Gloves that are tight may interfere with the flow of blood making your hands tired and slowing down your response time. The perfect glove is one which is not tight or tight enough that your fingers cannot bend, grip and move in the natural way.
- Seek grip: Some accidents occur not due to sparks or cuts, but by something slipping. Injuries can be caused by a dropped hammer, moist rung of a ladder or piece of wood sliding. Textured or rubberized palm work safety gloves provide you a grip even in the rain or during work on smooth metal.
- Don’t save money on quality: It may seem to save money to pick up a pair of gloves of the lowest quality out of the shelf but in the end it proves to cost more, not in dollars but in injuries. Cheap work safety gloves are easily worn, tear easily when stressed or not when needed the most.
Tips for developing a safety habit
Nothing will help even the best work safety gloves in the world unless they are used constantly. Safety is not merely equipment, but it is about habits and routines that make you safe day in day out.
- Always keep a spare pair: Construction sites, workshops or factories are unpredictable. Sharp edges can tear work safety gloves , rain will wet them and sparks can burn them.
- Inspect them daily: Before going to work, take thirty seconds to examine your work safety gloves . Do you get holes on the ends of your fingers? Is the fabric thinning? Is there any evidence of chemical abuse such as discoloration or rigidity?
- Pair gloves with other gear: Gloves cannot work individually. They belong to some bigger protection system. Safety glasses ensure that no sparks are in your eyes, helmets guarantee that no bits of debris hit your head and steel-toed shoes save your feet.
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Respect the “silent rule”: In many workplaces, there is a tacit rule that everyone should respect, that is, when you see someone without a glove, give him or her a spare one. Even such a little thing would help avoid a serious injury.
Read more: 7 things you must know before buying worker gloves
The takeaway
After purchasing a pair of gloves from EvridWear and relying on them in my daily work, I realized something important. In retrospect, I understand that the greatest lesson I had learned was not about steel beams, tools, and construction methods. It consisted of respect, the type of respect you give to your tools, your colleagues and above all yourself.
Such a basic item as a pair of work safety gloves might appear to be a mundane object but they turn out to be the difference between a typical day at work and an injury that could change everything.
That is why the next time you are going to the job site, shop, or even the garage at home, you should keep in mind that your hands are your best weapon. Treat them with care. Wear the appropriate work safety gloves to protect them. Since other times, the tiniest detail of equipment counts the most.