For the last twenty years, the safety glove industry has been locked in an arms race over cut resistance. Driven by the ANSI/ISEA 105 standard, manufacturers kept stacking layers of high-performance yarns like Kevlar, Dyneema, and Spectra to get higher and higher A-level cut ratings. We did a great job protecting workers from slicing their hands open on sheet metal or razor blades. But we completely ignored the fact that in heavy industry, hands don't just get cut; they get crushed.
If a worker drops a twenty-pound steel pipe fitting from waist height, or their hand gets caught between a wrench and a steel beam, a glove with an A6 cut rating does absolutely nothing to stop the bones in the hand from shattering. The glove's fabric just acts like a thin blanket over the impact zone. Recognizing this massive blind spot, the industry introduced the ANSI/ISEA 138 standard, which specifically measures the back-of-hand impact resistance of gloves. It is fundamentally reshaping how gloves are manufactured and purchased.
To meet the ANSI 138 standard-which rates impact resistance from Level 1 to Level 3-manufacturers can no longer just sew a piece of fabric. They have to mold Thermoplastic Rubber (TPR) onto the back of the fingers and knuckles. TPR is a dense, rubber-like polymer that absorbs and dissipates kinetic energy. If you drop a heavy object on a TPR pad, the material deforms to absorb the shock, preventing the force from transferring to the knuckles.
This standard is causing a massive shift in procurement. General contractors in heavy civil, oil and gas, and foundry work are updating their site safety plans to mandate ANSI 138 Level 2 or higher impact gloves. The engineering challenge for manufacturers has been figuring out how to attach these thick, rubberized armor pads without making the glove feel like a boxing glove. Early impact gloves were incredibly stiff, robbing workers of the dexterity needed to pinch small bolts or operate control panels. The current generation of impact gloves features segmented, articulated TPR pads that bend naturally with the human hand. If you are still issuing standard leather or cut-only gloves to a crew doing heavy mechanical work, your site is running a massive liability risk for hand fractures.
