Everything You Need to Know About
Heat-Resistant Gloves
Direct exposure to heat can cause injury to the layers of skin commonly known as burn injuries. Burn injuries can be minor medical problems or life-threatening emergencies, based on the exposure and contact with heat. The severity of these injuries can be anywhere from first-degree burns (surface damage) to third-degree burns (leaving skin charred and causing nerve damage).
Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid heat-related injuries by using the right gloves. But how do you choose the right protection?
Direct exposure to heat can cause injury to the layers of skin commonly known as burn injuries. Burn injuries can be minor medical problems or life-threatening emergencies, based on the exposure and contact with heat. The severity of these injuries can be anywhere from first-degree burns (surface damage) to third-degree burns (leaving skin charred and causing nerve damage).
Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid heat-related injuries by using the right gloves. But how do you choose the right protection?
What you will learn:
- How heat transfer happens
- Common materials used to manufacture heat-resistant gloves
- Materials to avoid when working around heat hazards
- Safety standards and tests used to verify if the gloves are heat resistant
Heat Transfer: Underlying Forces
Heat is transferred in three ways:
Conduction: Involves the transfer of heat through direct contact between objects. For example, holding on to a hot object, like a hot tray from the oven, is conduction heat.
Convection: Heat transfer process that takes place within a fluid, such as air. For example, when you open a hot oven door and hot, steamy air blows out, is convective heat.
Radiant: Heat transfer, or ambient heat transfer, occurs without physical contact between objects, and heat can propagate through empty spaces. Welding is a perfect example of radiant heat.
Manufacturers primarily focus on conductive heat resistance as this is the most common way workers are exposed to high heat hazards. They use materials known to resist heat (known as resistors) and instead direct the heat to areas using materials designed to safely absorb heat (known as sinks).
How heat resistance is measured
As with other safety standards, heat-resistant gloves are not heat proof. If a person is in contact with a hot object for long enough, eventually the heat will build up and cause injuries to the wearer. This is why heat protection is measured using time to pain and alarm time.
Time to pain: The time it takes to feel heat or discomfort.
Alarm time: The time it takes to experience second-degree burns.
Materials Used in Heat-Resistant Gloves
Heat resistant gloves can be made from synthetic and natural materials that are known to resist heat.
- Synthetic materials like para-aramids (ParaActivTM), meta-aramids (MetaActivTM), and silicone.
- Natural materials like cotton, wool, and leather.
- Palm coating on safety gloves can also improve heat resistance. Palm coating materials used for heat protection include silicone, neoprene, and nitrile.
Trapped air, also known as lofting, is used to improve heat resistance. This is why you will find that, due to more trapped air, thicker gloves tend to be more heat resistant than thinner gloves.
Glove manufacturers can also use a combination of materials that absorb and resist heat to achieve a higher level of heat protection. For example, at Superior Glove, we use puffed silicone strips that are designed to resist and trap heat and a brick pattern design that decreases the surface area for the hot object, further reducing heat transfer.
Materials to Avoid in heat-resistant gloves
Some materials are known to melt when exposed to heat. These are known as thermoplastic materials and should be completely avoided when working around heat hazards. Thermoplastic materials can melt and graft to your skin and cause serious burn injuries. These include HPPE (TenActivTM), nylon, and polyester.
North American Standard ANSI / ISEA 105
The resistance is tested and measured using the ANSI ASTM F1060-08 Conductive Heat Resistance standard.
The ANSI ASTM F1060-08 Conductive Heat Resistance standard assesses resistance by measuring three key factors when a person wearing PPE is exposed to a specific temperature:
- Time to second-degree burn: The duration it takes for the wearer to develop second-degree burns.
- Time to pain: The duration it takes for the wearer to start feeling pain. It is the maximum time you can hold a hot object before feeling pain (discomfort).
- Alarm time: The time interval between the onset of pain and the development of second-degree burns.
The glove’s conductive heat resistance is rated according to the following levels:
Level 0
Less than 80°C or 176°F
Level 1
80°C or 176°F
Level 2
140°C or 284°F
Level 3
200°C or 392°F
Level 4
260°C or 500°F
Level 5
320°C or 608°F
At each level, the maximum temperature is where workers have up to 15 seconds before they receive second-degree burns.
European Standard EN407 (CE)
The EN407 is a CE standard that evaluates a glove’s thermal performance using six different tests on a scale from zero to four. These tests are designed to comprehensively assess gloves in various aspects related to heat resistance.