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DESCRIPTION OF OTHER  VIBRATION REDUCING MATERIALS

Vibration reducing materials used in anti-vibration (AV) gloves marketed in the U.S. and Canada can be classified into two categories:

  1. Viscoelastic, polymer-foam, gel, and other similar materials amd

  2. Glove air bladders.

VISCOELASTIC, POLYMER-FOAM, GEL, AND OTHER SIMILAR MATERIALS

Vibration reducing materials in this group include, but are not limited to, Viscolas®, Sorbothane®, Gfoam® and Nu202. Viscolas® is a product of VISCOLAS, a Division of Impacto® Protective Products, Inc., and Sorbothane® is a product of Sorbothane®, Inc. Gfoam® is used in Decade AV gloves marketed by Chase Ergonomics, Inc. Nu2o2 is a laminated viscoelastic material used in ProFlex® AV gloves marketed by Ergodyne, Inc.

Viscolas® and Sorbothane® are used in products that are designed to reduce vibration and shock. These materials are commonly used in foot and glove products to reduce human exposure to vibration and shock. Normally, gloves that contain these materials do not meet the requirements of ISO 10819 to be classified as AV gloves. It may be possible to increase the thickness of these materials in a glove to meet the requirements of ISO 10819. However, the required thickness would be greater than the maximum recommended glove vibration reducing material thickness of 8 mm. This would make the glove uncomfortable to wear and would possibly interfere with finger dexterity and hand control necessary to properly and safely control vibrating hand-held tools.

Gfoam® and Nu202 are products that are currently used in AV gloves. A Decade glove with Gfoam® was tested in an accredited laboratory in Europe per the requirements of ISO 10819 and met these requirements to be classified as an anti-vibration glove. A Decade glove with Gfoam® was also tested at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as part of the DOD Acquisition and Technology Programs Task Force (ATPTF) program per the requirements of ISO 10819. In these tests, the Decade glove with Gfoam® did not meet the requirements of ISO 10819 to be classified as an AV glove. Ergodyne indicates its ProFlex® AV gloves with Nu202 have been tested per the requirements of ISO 10819 and meets these requirements to be classified as an AV glove. These gloves were not tested as part of the DOD ATPTF program.

Many glove manufacturers and distributors in the U.S. market gloves they identify as AV or vibration-reducing gloves that have neither been tested per nor meet the requirement of ISO 10819 to be classified as an AV glove.

GLOVE AIR BLADDERS

ErgoAir® and Impacto® Protective Products market AV gloves that use glove air bladders as their AV glove vibration reducing element. The ErgoAir® AntiVib® glove air bladder is the original air bladder technology used in AV gloves. Initially, Impacto® Protective Products was a licensee of ErgoAir® and used ErgoAir® AntiVib® glove air bladders in its AV gloves. Later, Impacto® developed its Bubble GloveTM Cellular Technology that is currently used in its AirGlove® AV gloves. Figure 1 shows pictures of the ErgoAir® AntiVib® and the Impacto® Bubble GloveTM glove air bladders. The glove air bladder shape selected by Impacto® is similar to that of the original ErgoAir® AntiVib® glove air bladderr. Table 1 identifies some of the main differences between the ErgoAir® and Impacto® glove air bladders. Both ErgoAir® and Impacto® AV gloves with their respective glove air bladders were tested at NIOSH as part of the DOD ATPTF program. These AV gloves met the requirements of ISO 10819 to be classified as AV gloves.

Figure 1

Table 1

 

Glove Air Bladder Structure

Glove Air Bladder Inflation

Fluid Connectivity between Glove Air Bladder Air Chambers

ErgoAir® Antivib® Glove Air Bladder

Urethane thermoplastic thin film glove air bladder with interconnected air chambers

Integrated inflation mechanism with release valve

Full fluid connectivity between all of the glove air bladder air chambers

Impacto® Bubble GloveTM Glove Air Bladder

Non-permeable polymer glove air bladder with individual unconnected air chambers

All air chambers are pre-inflated during the forming of the glove air bladder

No fluid connectivity between any of the glove air bladder air chambers

ERGOAIR® AIR PAW® AV GLOVES WITH THE ERGOAIR®  ANTIVIB® GLOVE AIR BLADDERS JUDGED SUPIOR

ErgoAir® AIR PAW® AV gloves, along with Chase Ergonomics Decade and Impactor® AirGlove® AV gloves, were among a group of sixteen styles of gloves identified as AV gloves that were tested at the National Institute for Occupational Saafety and Health (NIOSH).  These gloves were tested as part of a DOD Acquisition and Technology Programs Task Force (ATPTF) program. Of the sixteen styles of gloves that were tested, the NISOH team, when taking into account both the vibration attenuation and the required grip effort associated with the gloves, observed that the ErgoAir® AIR PAW® AV gloves "are generally better choices than the other evaluated gloves."
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