I completely understand that after you issue gloves you must retest within 6 months and if “Gloves or sleeves that have been electrically tested but not issued (unopened) for service shall not be placed in service unless they have been electrically tested within the previous 12 months.

My question is how you guys regulate that second issue?

We issue a lot of gloves out and they get first opened at very different times. If I got a guy using gloves he just opened that have been sitting on the shelf for 11 months and a OSHA guy looks at the date they will be like hey your way past the 6 months. What are we to do.

Best way to track it is to have 2 dates 1/1 and 7/1 for example where everyone turns in thier gloves for testing and gets a new set (Different color). Using 2 colors helps keep track of things too, if everyone is using yellow gloves and one guy still has black (Or red, or blue) it is pretty obvious he did not swap his out.

Always ask for failed gloves to be sent back to you, they are great for a safety meeting twice a year to show everyone the flaws, how to spot them, and cover the importance of daily inspections. When the gloves you use for your safety training were actually being used by the guys attending, it gets thier attention.

Glove Testing

I totally agree with color coordinating everyone. It would make it extremely easy to spot someone out of sync. We attempted to do that but with over 50 electrical workers in 8 plants reporting to different bosses who do the ordering for new associates and replacement gloves it got a little out of whack. Then, due to a large number of ozone failures, we switched from Type I to Type II gloves which came in different colors yet.

We have 2 designated dates per year which everyone submits their gloves currently being worn or "in cycle" regardless of when or whether they've been opened. We actually have had gloves unopened and properly stored still fail testing. This way the dates on everyone’s gloves should always match, unless you’ve just received a brand new pair which you could then show evidence of the purchase order containing the associate's name being received on a certain date if necessary.

Also, when the gloves come back from testing they go through one person who sorts them out by plant for distribution back to the electrical workers. This single point control allows it to be noticed if someone has not submitted gloves for testing. The rejected gloves are also sorted and tracked by defect type and location and the results are published.