Requirements and test methods for gloves used for manual welding of metals, for cutting and related techniques. Welder gloves are ranked in two types: B when great dexterity is required (e.g.: TIG welding), and A for other welding processes.

This standard provides requirements for protective gloves that are worn in an environment producing ionising radiation or in an environment containing radioactive substances.

A glove protecting against radioactive contamination must be waterproof according to EN374-2.

A glove that protects against ionising radiation must, in addition to being waterproof according to EN374-2, contain a certain amount of heavy metal such as lead.

Standard EN ISO374-1, protective gloves against chemicals and micro-organisms, specifies the performance requirements required for gloves for protecting users against chemical products and/ or micro organisms and defines the terms to be used:

• Penetration (tested as per standard EN374-2): Diffusion of water or air, to check the impermeability, on a non-molecular level, of a chemical product and/or micro-organism through the porosities, seams, micro-holes or other imperfections present in the material of the protective glove.

• Degradation (tested as per standard EN374-4): Determination of the physical resistance of materials to degradation after continuous contact with hazardous chemicals.

• Permeation (tested as per standard EN374-3 or EN16523): Process by which a chemical product diffuses through the material of a protective glove, by continuous contact, on a molecular level. The EN ISO version of standard 374-1, introduces the concept of three types of protection against the permeation of chemicals:

- Type A: The glove gives a performance index to permeation at least equal to 2 for 6 chemical test substances taken from the list of chemicals specified in the standard.

- Type B : The glove gives a performance index to permeation at least equal to 2 for 3 chemical test substances taken from the list of chemicals specified in the standard.

- Type C : The glove gives a performance index to permeation at least equal to 1 for 1 chemical test substances taken from the list of chemicals specified in the standard.

The EN407 standard specifies the test methods, the general requirements, the thermal performance and the labelling of gloves and cuffs to protect from heat and fire. It applies to all gloves which must protect hands from heat and/or flames in any one or several of the following forms: fire, contact heat, convective heat, radiating heat, small spray of molten metal or large spray of melting metal.

If the product claims flammability resistance, the pictogram will be  

If the product does not claim any resistance to flammability (0 or X), the pictogram will be      

* the performance of all test points will be limited to 2 instead of 4.