What are the four main types of work gloves? Leather, coated knit, cut-resistant and disposable, and what each rating on the tag means

By construction: leather (cut and sewn from hide), coated knit (a knit shell dipped in nitrile, latex, polyurethane or PVC), cut-resistant (a coated knit with an engineered yarn, rated A1 to A9) and disposable (nitrile or latex film, rated by ASTM D6319 or D3578). Winter, impact and chemical gloves are variations inside those.

ANSI/ISEA 105: cut A1 to A9, abrasion 0 to 6, puncture 1 to 5. ANSI/ISEA 138: impact 1 to 3. EN 388: four digits (abrasion, cut, tear, puncture) then the ISO 13997 cut letter A to F and a P for impact. EN 511: three digits for cold. Disposables: mils of thickness.

Yes. Radians: gauge is the number of needles per inch on the knitting machine; the smaller the number the thicker the shell, 7 gauge the thickest and 18 the thinnest. The glove gauge guide covers it.

A leather palm has a leather palm with a fabric back and a safety or gauntlet cuff; a drivers glove is leather front and back with a shirred elastic wrist. Radians prints the style in the product name and the hide on the Leather Type line.

A coated knit whose shell yarn is engineered for it: HPPE, HPPE with fiberglass or steel, Kevlar, Dyneema or TEKTYE, rated A1 to A9. Leather resists cuts less predictably and Radians prints a cut level on leather only where it has tested the style (the KAMORI goatskin gloves).

No. Radians lists no unsupported chemical glove line; its chemical splash protection is Neese clothing. The chemical resistance chart guide covers the other manufacturers on this site.

Disposable nitrile or latex gloves listed to 21 CFR 170–199, and cut-resistant gloves with the same listing. The food-safe gloves guide covers the rule.

Depends who is counting. OSHA's hand protection guidance groups gloves as leather, canvas or metal mesh; fabric and coated fabric; chemical and liquid resistant; and insulating rubber. The trade's four families on this page (leather, coated knit, cut-resistant and disposable) sort by how the glove is made. A three-way split usually means leather, coated knit and disposable, with cut-resistant counted as a coated knit whose yarn is rated.

Handling without a specific rated hazard: material handling, assembly, warehousing, landscaping, maintenance. In the trade a general purpose glove is a leather palm, a drivers glove or a nitrile, latex or polyurethane coated knit at ANSI A1, chosen for grip, abrasion resistance and dexterity. The moment the task has a cut, chemical, heat, cold or electrical hazard, the hazard assessment under 1910.138 calls for the glove rated for it.

Yes. 29 CFR 1910.252(b)(3) requires welders to wear protective gloves, and the glove has to take heat, sparks and spatter: leather (cowhide, goatskin, deerskin, elkskin) with a gauntlet cuff, Kevlar stitching and often a lining, rated under ANSI/ISEA 105 for contact heat or under EN 407 where the manufacturer tests it. Coated knits melt, and HPPE softens at about 145 °C. The welding glove guides on this site cover stick, MIG and TIG differences.

The number for durability is the abrasion level: ANSI/ISEA 105 abrasion 0 to 6 (Taber test, level 6 at 20,000 revolutions under a 1,000 gram load) or the first digit of the EN 388 code (1 to 4). The gloves with the highest published abrasion figures on this site are nitrile-coated and polyurethane-coated knits at level 5 and 6 and grain leather drivers; each product page prints the manufacturer's level, and the band on this page shows it beside the glove.

Fingerless gloves leave the fingertips bare for touch and fine work (framing, surveying, cold-weather dexterity) at the cost of fingertip protection, so they carry no cut rating. Touchscreen-capable coated knits keep the fingertips covered and are the alternative most manufacturers list for phone and tablet use on site.

OSHA’s 1910.138(a) names the reasons: skin absorption of harmful substances, severe cuts or lacerations, severe abrasions, punctures, chemical burns, thermal burns and harmful temperature extremes; each of the four glove types on this page answers some of them, and the rating on the tag says how far.

OSHA keeps no count by type, but its PPE page lists gloves first among its examples, and the hand hazards 1910.138 names appear on nearly every job; the hand protection standard is one of the most-used paragraphs in Subpart I.

With the glove the hazard assessment under 1910.132(d) selects for the hazard found, at the cut, puncture, chemical, heat or cold rating the manufacturer prints; the four types on this page and their ratings are the choices.

Leather palms and drivers (hand-washed, per the leather care guide), coated and cut-resistant knits (machine-washable within the manufacturer’s temperature limits, per the cut glove care guide) and chemical gloves (rinsed and dried); disposables are single-use.

Near rotating machinery, where a glove can be caught and draw the hand in; OSHA’s machine guarding standard (1910.212) addresses rotating parts with guards, and OSHA’s woodworking guide says no glove stands up to direct contact with cutting surfaces. The hazard assessment names the tasks.

For a food barrier, the Food Code names deli tissue, tongs, spatulas and dispensing equipment beside single-use gloves; for a hand hazard, engineering controls that remove the hazard come before PPE in OSHA’s rules. There is no alternative to a glove for a hazard that remains.