Best electrician gloves?

EmmaSim said:

Thanx. I picked up something for myself like ActivArmr Gloves. And found review with several - https://webproductradar.com/5-best-electrician-gloves.

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Wow your employer should not expect you to manufacture anything in a live state, and even if they did, are be required by H&S law to ensure your safety and well-being by providing the necessary PPE. Do you work for a small company?

Nigel Goodwin said:

I've never seen (or heard of) an electrician wearing gloves? - certainly I never do when doing any mains wiring - gloves would reduce your manual dexterity drastically.

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Well I can't speak for the UK or when your last work was in the field as an electrician but here on my side of the pond things have changed. When I retired in May 2013 was nothing like when I began my career. Anytime I worked around the 480 volt buss I had to wear both my leather and rubber gloves. Talk about manual dexterity being difficult? Oh wait and the rubber gloves? They were carefully labeled with a test date and your gloves better be current.

Date Stamps
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1910.137(c)(2)(viii) and the referenced Table I-5, all electrical gloves must be tested periodically and prior to being placed into service. All glove manufacturers incorporate some form of production code or date coding to indicate the date of initial testing. In accordance with Table I-5 rubber insulating gloves must be tested before first issue and every six months thereafter or upon indication that the insulating value is suspect; after repair; and after use without protectors. Also, if the insulating equipment has been electrically tested but not issued for service, the insulating equipment may not be placed into service unless it has been electrically tested within the previous 12 months. For additional information on in-service care of electrical gloves reference ASTM F496-14a.

No, working with 120 VAC on a bench or in test stands gloves were not required but don't get caught working on a buss less the required gloves. Electricians very much do wear gloves. Oh wait and let's not the arc flash face shield requirements. Gone are the days of just a T-Shirt also, NFPA 70E has that covered right down to long sleeve shirts and right down the line. Then too, they may have a bit of a point. This is a 480 volt arc flash clip I always enjoyed.


Granted this has little to do with the original question of the thread but I would not be too quick to state "I've never seen (or heard of) an electrician wearing gloves"? Since Electrician takes in a broad group and actually I was never an electrician. My boss of 20 plus years liked to think of me as a hands on engineer which we all were in my department.

Ron

I'd wear gloves.

we had an electrical panel that rusted out at a plant in Houston. The accident investigation claimed a piece of rusty metal fell across the 480v terminals and caused an explosion similar to this... (about 1/4 the size sine our guy in hard hat, leather/rubber gloves and fireproof coveralls only had molten metal droplets on his upper body - he was ok).

Video below is also 480v, the title gets clipped unless you click the YouTube link at the bottom of the video.

Reloadron said:

Electrician takes in a broad group

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Very true, it is all a question of the amount of energy available under fault conditions.

The low voltage (480v ?) explosion depicted above, is many orders of magnitude greater that the fizzing and crackling that Nigel would encounter from the 25kV EHT found in the back of the average CRT based television.
Mention 25kV out of context to the guy who works on a switchgear panel as in the picture above and he would break out into a cold sweat.

Horses for courses.

JimB

The highest voltages/currents of the power supplies I worked on:
1. 15 kV, 1.5A (variable, regulated) Input was 3 phase 208 at 60A
The other one was 208 3 Phase, 90A input No problem with HV except cables were cut and tube popped out of its socket
We bought it at an auction and lots of wires were cut. There was a hidden connector.
Management had little hope of me getting it working.
2. 100 kV at 0.1 A (variable) (x-ray generator)
3. 1000 W into 50 ohms, RF @ 13.56 MHz, tube