Mobile phones allow us to make calls, surf
the Internet, snap photos and download
music, all at the same time. Cars have
to be business-like enough for work and
rugged enough to carry a mountain bike
in the weekends. We check our email or
read the paper while watching TV. And,
every day, we switch constantly back and
forth from one job or task to another.
Much more than a trend, multitasking
has become today’s way of life. And that’s
no different in manufacturing industries.
Multitasking in fast-moving, industrial
environments
Whereas on the earlier shop-floors, operators
did the same type of work all day, the
trend now is more and more to let them do
multiple tasks. In addition to pure assembly-
line work, for example, production
workers get supervisory responsibilities,
inspection and quality control functions,
or maintenance and/or repair tasks.
Marcel Willems explains: “In manufacturing
environments, multitasking has several
advantages. For the operators themselves,
a bit of work variety is a challenge
that provides potential job enrichment.
Plus: less repetitive tasks reduce the need
for repetitive, prolonged movements which
may lead to work-related disorders, such
as tendonitis, CTS and back disorders.
For the employer, multitasking enhances
workplace flexibility by making it easier
to rapidly deploy labour to specific tasks,
as and when needed.” The introduction of
multitasking practices brings with it a different
barrier protective need: PPE with a
broad range of protective characteristics.
 The critical tandem: performance and
comfort
The evolution of hand protection has
come a long way since our founder Eric
Ansell and his sons marketed their first
rubber household gloves and industrial
gloves, back in the 1920s. For decades on
end, performance - i.e. adequate protection
- was the only criterion that governed
hand protection development. Gloves had
to protect workers against all kinds of hazards:
cuts, abrasion, puncture, chemical
products, etc. and/or provide specific characteristics
like superior grip. “Protection
is, of course, still the number one issue
today. But in the past decade we’ve discovered
that comfort also ensures protection,”
says Marcel Willems. “After all, the
majority of occupational accidents with
arm and hand injuries is not only due
to wearing the wrong gloves but also by
misapplication or the absence of gloves.
And if we want workers to embrace hand
protection, our gloves must not only meet
tough performance criteria but they must
also fit well and provide adequate levels of
dexterity and comfort.”
Multipurpose gloves
Always at the forefront of innovation,
Ansell has been incorporating new technologies
and new fabrics to manufacture
gloves that combine superior levels of protection
with comfort for many years. And
we’re determined, of course, to continue
down this path and continually upgrade
our products. In anticipation of the everincreasing
multitasking trend, however,
we’re also working on ‘multipurpose’
gloves to be used when multitasking.
“Operators who perform different tasks
now have to change items of PPE all the
time. We’re totally committed to providing
them with gloves that fit all, without compromising
protection or comfort levels.
And without being too expensive either.
Our HyFlex® and AlphaTec™ ranges are
well on their way to meeting that demand.
Today already, the HyFlex® 11-920 combines
Ansell Grip Technology with liquid
repellency, with the outstanding comfort
and dexterity HyFlex® gloves are known
for. And there’s plenty of these kind of
novel solutions in the pipeline.”
|
