Abstract

Protective gloves are an elementary component of personal protective equipment in many occupations and are intended to protect the hands from various hazards (e.g., wetness, chemicals, mechanical forces, or thermal stress). This is particularly important when other occupational safety measures (e.g., technical-organizational measures) cannot be implemented or are insufficient. However, it is not uncommon for protective gloves themselves to become a problem, as some of their ingredients (e.g., rubber accelerators) can cause allergic reactions. Accelerators in rubber gloves include thiurams, dithiocarbamates, thiazoles, guanidines, and thioureas. If no alternative means of protection are available, this may even result in abandoning the profession. This article is about rubber accelerators, which are often contained in protective gloves made of different rubber materials (e.g., natural rubber (latex) and nitrile rubber) and may cause delayed-type allergies, as well as related challenges, problems, and solutions for occupational skin protection.

Author Details

Authors

• Andreas Hansen¹,²
• Richard Brans¹,²
• Flora Sonsmann¹,²

Departments

• ¹ Department of Dermatology, Environmental Medicine and Health Theory, University of Osnabrück, and
• ² Institute for Interdisciplinary Dermatological Prevention and Rehabilitation (iDerm) at the University of Osnabrück, Germany

Address

Andreas Hansen, M.A., University of Osnabrück, Institute for Interdisciplinary Dermatological Prevention and Rehabilitation (iDerm), Am Finkenhügel 7a, 49076 Osnabrück, Germany
Email: [email protected]

Citation