Introduction of protective gloves and their performance evaluation methods

Personal protective equipment (PPE) can protect various parts of the body such as eyes and face, head, feet, legs, hands and arms. Fortunately, nowadays there are many effective tools available to protect humans against these risks, including protective clothing and vests, masks, hats, shoes, gloves and many other protective equipment. Textiles are an inseparable part of protective equipment, which has been highly considered due to their special influence on the structure and function of protective equipment. The human hand is one of the most complex parts of the human body and is usually used more often during activities. Therefore, special attention should be paid to protect hands, especially at work. One way to protect hands is to use protective gloves. In the present paper, we introduce a variety of protective gloves, the necessity of using them and investigating the factors affecting the comfort, performance and effectiveness of protective gloves. Although wearing protective gloves reduces injuries, but some problems arise such as the reduction of sensitivity of the touch, the power and strength of the hand, the movement range of fingers, the speed of action, and the skill of performing activities with hands which leads to wearer's discomfort and difficulty in doing the job. This article discusses the above issues.