Cut Resistant Gloves

Cuts and punctures to the hands remain one of the most common and easily preventable injuries in the recycled paperboard industry. Here are a few facts regarding hand injuries.

  • Glove Rating Scales
    • The US adopted ASTM/ANSI/ISEA and the European (CE) rating.
    • Most often the CE rating is higher than the US rating, meaning CE-rated gloves do not provide the same level of protection as a comparably rated ASTM/ANSI/ISEA glove. As a result, vendors often will pitch the advantages of their glove based on the higher CE rating scale.
    • The higher the number (1-5) the higher the cut resistance. Also keep in mind that that gloves are cut resistant — not cut proof.
  • Recommended Cut Levels
    • Some companies recommend an ASTM/ANSI/ISEA level 4 or above glove anytime a sharp (i.e., knife, die blade, slitter blade, or other sharp tool or material).
    • There is considerably higher level protection afforded between a cut ASTM/ANSI/ISEA3 and 4 while dexterity is generally not diminished.
  • Different Cut Ratings
    • Beware that some gloves have different cut level ratings on the palm side and the back side of the glove. Be sure to ask your sales rep. for a specification sheet on the gloves you consider purchasing.

Wearing the right type of glove is critical.

Review your company’s policies and understand the expectations regarding when, where and what type of gloves are to be used.

Dupont has issued an information sheet about Kevlar which you can see here.

Hexarmor has a good chart explaining the similarities and differences between the US and European standards which you can see here.


LATEST NEWS

Industry Benchmarking Survey
The 2025 Profile Study will be initiated this December for first-quarter ’25 sampling. Past Survey reports can be accessed at this member-only page.

2024 Fall Roundtable
On October 16 and 17, we held our highly-rated RPTA Fall Roundtable on Paper Machine Roll Design and Operation, in Appleton, Wisconsin. The slides from our four-hour technical seminar on various types of rolls and press optimization are available at this RPTA members only site, along with materials from other past RPTA educational events.  The Roundtable also included tours of two Andritz roll facilities.

UPCOMING EVENTS

2025 Winter Webinar
On January 22nd, we will hold a webinar on Recovered Fiber Grades & Quality. Shawn State, President of Pratt Recycling at Pratt Industries, will discuss recovered fiber grades and quality trends.  He will be followed by Pat McEnroe, Product Group Director at Kadant Black Clawson, who will discuss process strategies to deal with contaminants in recovered fiber sources.

2025 Production-Technical Seminar
The event is May 4-7, 2025,  at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

This year,  the RPTA Seminar will be more integrated with the TAPPICon Conference.  RPTA members will register through RPTA and your registration will include all TAPPICon sessions and events, at a substantial savings over past years’ registration fees. 

RPTA will still recruit presentations on topics of current interest to our members:  Safer Operations, Product Strength Improvement Methods; and Waste Reduction. In addition, RPTA will host a two-hour mini-course on paper machine wet end chemistry, provided by a well-respected expert.