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Offline CTLA

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Need help selecting gloves
« on: June 19, 2018, 11:36:16 PM »
Hello everyone,

I am a cleaner, and as such I am constantly in contact with various chemicals. Recently I suffered a quite aggressive reaction which caused some damage to my hands, and since then I'm being very cautious about the type/s of gloves that I use.

I've recently been reading about how different types of gloves protect against certain chemicals, but aren't useful against others. I have tried to research what kind I should be looking for, but I'm extremely confused about the chemical types and names that I'm encountering. Not being a chemical person - and not too bright, I don't mind saying - I need someone with a little more knowledge and expertise to help me narrow down my choices.

Below is a list of the chemicals that are contained in the 3 solutions that I'm currently using. I'm hoping somebody could possibly tell me what kind of gloves I should be using based on the contents. I have copied the lists verbatim from the MSDS for each solution.

Any suggestions you can offer me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

1.

Glycols - glycolethers
Monoethanolamine
Sulfuric acid, mono-c10-16-alkyl esters, sodium salts

2.

Alcohols, c10-14, ethoxylated
Ethylenediamine tetraacetate

3.

D-Glucopyranose, oligomeric, decyl octyl glycosides
2-(2 butoxyethoxy) ethanol
Alkylpolyglycosides

Offline hypervalent_iodine

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Re: Need help selecting gloves
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2018, 02:33:45 AM »
I think nitrile gloves with long cuffs would suffice provided you were vigilant about changing them when they become exposed to chemicals (and assuming you aren't talking about high concentration H2SO4). If you really wanted to go all out, neoprene would offer pretty good protection, though it's probably overkill. 

Offline clarkstill

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Re: Need help selecting gloves
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2018, 02:45:34 AM »

Offline Arkcon

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Re: Need help selecting gloves
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2018, 07:46:24 AM »
Also consider: you may be reacting to the gloves themselves, if they are a cheap grade of latex, or any grade of latex for especially sensitive individuals.

Any glove may be slightly permeable, allowing the chemicals to slightly pass through, causing you to respond to a mixture of glove material and chemical.  Or some chemical may simply make it past the cuff.

Long hours working with gloves may simply make your hands react to the confined sweat.  The more impermeable -- thicker, less reactive gloves already suggested -- the worse this problem becomes.  An inner cotton liner glove may help in this situation.

After long hours and many years, you may begin to react to things that weren't allergens in the past.

What do you wear, to do housework, and how well do you support those gloves.  If you don't wear gloves to do housework ... then start wearing gloves to do housework, to establish a baseline for your skin reactions.
Hey, I'm not judging.  I just like to shoot straight.  I'm a man of science.

Offline masspecs

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Re: Need help selecting gloves
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2018, 04:15:22 PM »
Also consider: you may be reacting to the gloves themselves, if they are a cheap grade of latex, or any grade of latex for especially sensitive individuals.

Any glove may be slightly permeable, allowing the chemicals to slightly pass through, causing you to respond to a mixture of glove material and chemical.  Or some chemical may simply make it past the cuff.

Long hours working with gloves may simply make your hands react to the confined sweat.  The more impermeable -- thicker, less reactive gloves already suggested -- the worse this problem becomes.  An inner cotton liner glove may help in this situation.

After long hours and many years, you may begin to react to things that weren't allergens in the past.

What do you wear, to do housework, and how well do you support those gloves.  If you don't wear gloves to do housework ... then start wearing gloves to do housework, to establish a baseline for your skin reactions.

To piggyback on this response, I believe there might be "breakthrough" charts floating around somewhere. Gloves are a good precautionary measure, but they're imperfect as various chemicals have various reaction times, leading to various breakthrough times. Off the top of my head, for example, I know methylene chloride has a breakthrough time that's extremely quick; when I work with that, I change gloves immediately.


Offline CTLA

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Re: Need help selecting gloves
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2018, 09:48:00 PM »
Some additional information:

These are the gloves that I have been using for the last few months...

http://www.oates.com.au/ProductDisplay.aspx?Product=R-30

I'm sure they are permeable to some degree, as even with constant wear my skin reacted quite badly. After every use, I would rinse the inside and outside of the gloves with tap water.

I believe that solution #1 is the main culprit for my skin reaction, as it was the one that saw the most use. Also, my skin started to get better after I stopped using it.

Solution #2 has been used sparingly, and only seems to dry my skin slightly when used. I have not yet used solution #3, but will need to in the coming weeks.

Below are the chemicals relisted with their concentration levels. Additionally, water is used to dilute all solutions.

1.

NOTE: :-[ It seems I looked up the wrong MSDS initially, and the list for this solution was incorrect. Below are the correct chemicals.

D-glucopyranose, oligomeric, decyl octyl glycosides : 5-10%
Ammonium hydroxide : 1-5%

2.

Alcohols, c10-14, ethoxylated : 5-10%
Ethylenediamine tetraacetate : 1-5%

3.

D-Glucopyranose, oligomeric, decyl octyl glycosides : 1-5%
2-(2 butoxyethoxy) ethanol : 1-5%
Alkylpolyglycosides : 1-5%

As for my housework, my wife is also a cleaner (and very fussy  ;D) and insists on doing a majority of the housework herself - I'm relegated to vacuuming and making beds!  :D

Offline CTLA

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Re: Need help selecting gloves
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2018, 09:50:32 PM »
If you really wanted to go all out, neoprene would offer pretty good protection, though it's probably overkill.

Overkill sounds like a good idea to me! However, neoprene - as in wetsuit material? I can't imagine that being too effective - but like I said, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer!

Offline Corribus

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Re: Need help selecting gloves
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2018, 10:06:17 AM »
You can find good glove compatibility charts online, via google search for (you guessed it) "glove compatibility chart".

E.g., here's one: https://www.ansellpro.com/download/Ansell_7thEditionChemicalResistanceGuide.pdf
What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?  - Richard P. Feynman

Offline CTLA

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Re: Need help selecting gloves
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2018, 01:15:19 PM »
You can find good glove compatibility charts online, via google search for (you guessed it) "glove compatibility chart".

E.g., here's one: https://www.ansellpro.com/download/Ansell_7thEditionChemicalResistanceGuide.pdf

That was the first thing I did, actually, but I couldn't find all of the chemicals listed on various ones. I understand that they might go by a variation of their name or are listed under a specific group name, and as I said, not being experienced with chemicals I needed some professional assistance. And that's why (you guessed it) I came here.

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