Chemistry lab safety: gloves or no gloves

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨asow8@mander.xyz⁩ to ⁨chemistry@mander.xyz⁩

What are your thoughts on glove use in an organic chemistry lab setting?

I was trained from my Bachelor’s to always wear gloves in lab unless using equipment and lab computers with clear instructions stating otherwise. Even in the safety course during my Ph.D., we discussed the benefits of wearing gloves as an extra layer of protection that buys time to reduce chemical exposure. No glove can behave as a barrier to all chemicals, but I was trained to be vigilant to chemical exposure on my gloves and remove them as quickly as possible.

I have recently joined another academic lab as a postdoc, and I learned that this chemistry department takes the exact opposite stance to glove safety. Here, gloves apparently only give researchers a false sense of security that can dull the sense of touch and prevent you from recognizing chemical exposure. This delay can then increase your chemical exposure as the chemical absorbs through the glove. I always see my labmates and others grab chemicals and solvents without gloves.

Before you get judgemental, I’m not a complete prude. I have been known to grab clean looking bottles and containers without gloves. But some of these people have been trained to the point where they are comfortable grabbing nasty ass bottles as if there isn’t an increased risk.

Honestly, people can do what they want. I am mostly salty about the gentle reprimands I get every month of lab safety and my misuse of gloves.

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ornery_chemist@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Mostly disagree with your new dept here. It’s true that, if everyone had perfect technique and perfect eyes and perfect senses of touch, PPE would be a lot less important. But people don’t, and reducing chemical exposure purely to a skill issue is nonsense and hubristic. Accidents happen, and by definition there is always some unknown component of R&D that might manifest as splashes, loss of containment, etc, which gloves (and labcoats and goggles) may protect against. Furthermore, it’s not just about one person’s skills; without gloves, one must rely on labmates’ collective hygiene and that there are no spilled residues on the outside of the containers of the chemical containers.

To the point that gloves are ineffective: then the wrong gloves are being used. Glove manufacturers provide compatibilty charts, and SDSs give glove recommendations for more niche chemicals. Nitrile has okay enough compatibility to be the default, but chemical labs should stock other commonly needed kinds.

To the point that it reduces sense of touch, I think the decrease is minimal for standard-issue nitrile, though agree for thicker varieties like butyl which reduce dexterity.

To the point that gloves prevent one from noticing chemical expore, again I disagree. Splash contact for solvents on gloves is pretty noticeable, though different from uncovered skin, and I find it much easier to see chemicals against the clean monochrome of the gloves than my skin. As you mentioned, contaminated gloves should be removed ASAP to guard against breakthrough; without gloves, there is no breakthrough period, just immediate contamination of the skin.

Finally, gloves may protect you from chemicals, but they also protect the samples from you. Skin oils or microorganisms can cause issues, though I have found this more problematic for bio than chemistry.

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JASN_DE@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Depends on what I’m working with, and the scale/volumes. They exist for a reason.

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Assian_Candor@hexbear.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Its fucking insane to not wear nitrile gloves. This is the same rationale as seatbelts are less safe because they give you a false sense of security. PPE is not meant to be there to protect you as part of day to day operations but in case of accidents which like… obviously will happen. There’s also the hazard of repeated exposure.

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- ornery_chemist@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I like the seatbelt analogy better than the old-timey one I thought of at first: surgeons are gentlemen, and gentlemen’s hands are always clean, ergo surgeons need not wash their hands. Maybe I’m jaded, but my perception of the diehard no-gloves camp is one of arrogant exceptionalism.
  
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HubertManne@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I never thought of it. My bachelors is in microbiology and I worked a bit in blood diagnostics and the gloves are also to keep from contaminating things so you definitely use them with that.

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Sal@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
It depends. In my experience: in an academic laboratory I have been able to use common sense.

For example, gloves go on when working with strong acids/bases. The statement:

gloves apparently only give researchers a false sense of security that can dull the sense of touch and prevent you from recognizing chemical exposure

Does not apply as much when you are working with such corrosive agents, because you really should never be in a position where spilling 4 M HCl into your hands would go unnoticed.

When working with large quantitites of oils, even if non-hazardous, gloves go on and they will probably get oil in them.

When working with cell cultures, the goal is often to not contaminate the cultures. Some people prefer to wash their hands thoroughly and not use gloves, and they have been working at it for many years and they seem to do just fine. It’s a risk mitigation strategy - if the cultures have antibiotics and fungicides, risk is already not too high.

In an industry setting it is different. Companies often comply with specific standards and health and safety regulations. While the individual can use common sense, the people in charge of ascertaining compliance (sometimes ‘EHS’, Environment, health and safety personnel) aren’t necessarily chemists themselves, nor should they need to be aware of the identity of the transparent liquid in the flask that you are holding. So, generic rules are often set in place not only because of their practical utility but also to simplify enforcement. In some cases external auditors can come in (announced or not) and verify compliance - this, again is much simpler when the rule is ‘lab coat behind yellow line, gloves always on when touching a container with a liquid’ than having to interview each person to understand what they were touching without gloves and to understand their philosophy of why they chose to do so.

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alzymologist@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Nah, you should never wear gloves blindly, but fit them to type of hazards. There are published tables, preferably, use ones from your safety authority and ones from glove manufacturer. Misusing gloves is indeed a serious violation of safety codes and a hazard.

There is also anti-industrial common sense stance, but you wouldn’t be asking this question if you respected that.

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