Abstract for Short Course 2.2

 

 

Preventing percutaneous penetration

Anders Boman
Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Stockholm Centre for Public Health, Sweden

Skin exposure may lead to absorption of the exposing chemical with following local or systemic effect ranging form mild irritation to systemic intoxication and subsequent illness and possible death. Avoiding the exposure can be done following the traditional occupational hygiene principles with encapsulating, exchanging of chemicals and, as last resort, the use of personal protective clothing. Since the hands most often are the exposed body part gloves is the first choice of protective clothing.

Protective gloves are manufactured of a number of materials for various purposes – skin, textiles, and a number of polymers are most commonly used materials.

Choosing proper protective gloves is a meticulous task and needs thorough knowledge and consideration of the nature of the chemical exposure, work task and duration of exposure.

To prevent skin absorption the use of gloves of impermeable polymeric materials are essential. The combination of material and exposure is determining the extent of protection. The old rule of thumb “equal dissolves equal” is valid also for polymeric membranes. The best protection is achieved from a glove made of material where the chemical or solvent is not dissolved in.

Testing of glove performance can be done according to several international standards (ASTM F739 EN374-3 and ISO 6529). This testing gives data on permeation rate and break through time which acts as guidance in glove selection. Several large manufacturers provide test data of their gloves as a service on the web.

Occupational exposure to chemicals is most often to mixtures and single compounds in mixtures may act as guides and facilitate the permeation of the other compounds in the mixture. Examples of this are solvents in dental acrylates or mixtures of dental acrylates and methyl methacrylate. Alternate testing has been suggested to show this effect of chemical mixtures, in addition to the effect of bending and stretching of the material. However, these procedures are not yet standardized.

Barrier creams are often marketed as alternative to protective gloves as protection against skin exposure and percutaneous absorption. Their efficacy as protection against percutaneous absorption is very rarely demonstrated and so far no standardized method to test this has been established. However, several studies have shown that barrier creams may protect against local irritation and in some cases allergenic compounds.

In conclusion, choosing gloves for work tasks shall not be done haphazardly but be based on the knowledge of the specific task, exposure, and duration of the task.

 

Content last modified: 30 May 2005

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