Work Gloves & Hand Protection

Sorted by Hazard, Not by Material · ANSI/ISEA 105 · ANSI/ISEA 138 · ISO 10819 · EN 374

Which work gloves do you actually need?

Short answer: name the injury first. Blades and sheet metal mean cut resistant gloves; struck or pinched knuckles mean impact resistant gloves; solvents mean chemical resistant gloves; hot surfaces mean heat resistant gloves; power tools mean anti-vibration gloves; live conductors mean insulated electrical gloves. Each is a separate standard with a separate rating, and a high score in one says nothing about the rest.

Editor's pick for general-purpose work: the ProFlex 7000 nitrile-coated glove — a 15-gauge foam-nitrile palm is the most useful default when the hazard is abrasion and grip rather than a rated cut or impact risk.

Affiliate disclosure: WC Safety is an independent review site. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. We do not sell products directly, and no brand paid for placement.

Our methodology: how this hub is organized

We sort gloves by the hazard standard that governs them, because that is the only axis on which two gloves are genuinely comparable. Ratings are recorded exactly as the manufacturer states them, and we never carry a rating across standards — an ANSI cut level is not an EN 388 letter, and neither is an impact level. Where a glove carries two ratings we say so, and where it carries none for the hazard you are shopping for, we say that too. The grid on this page is the Ergodyne ProFlex line; the rest of the range lives in the category collections linked throughout, and we point you there rather than pretending one vendor's line covers every hazard.

Work Gloves (2026)

Hands are the most frequently injured part of the body in industrial work, and the reason is rarely that no glove was available — it is that the wrong glove was. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.138 requires employers to select hand protection based on an assessment of the specific hazards present, and deliberately does not name a product: the assessment sets the specification. The rating scales that make a specification writable come from ANSI and ISEA — ANSI/ISEA 105 for cut, abrasion and puncture, ANSI/ISEA 138 for back-of-hand impact — with ISO 10819 covering vibration and EN 374 chemical permeation.

The products shown on this page are the Ergodyne ProFlex range, which spans most of those hazards in one family: 7040 at ANSI A5 and 7070 at A7 for cut, 925F(x) for ANSI/ISEA 138 impact, 9000 and the 9012 jackhammer glove for ISO 10819 vibration, 7551 for cut plus cold and wet, and the 7001 at A1 for light handling.

Every hand protection category we review

• Cut and puncture: cut resistant gloves — ANSI/ISEA 105 levels A1 through A9.
• Impact and vibration: impact resistant gloves (ANSI/ISEA 138) and anti-vibration gloves (ISO 10819).
• Chemical, heat and electrical: chemical resistant gloves, heat resistant gloves, welding gloves, and insulated electrical gloves.
• General trades and handling: leather work gloves, mechanics gloves, material handling gloves, and trade gloves.
• Cold and wet: winter work gloves.
• Single-use: disposable gloves — nitrile, latex, and vinyl.

Hazard-to-standard comparison

How to choose safety gloves without over-buying

Why does the hazard come before the material?

Because material is a proxy and ratings are the fact. Leather, nitrile, and high-performance yarn each span an enormous range of protection depending on construction, so "get leather gloves" is not a specification while "ANSI A4 minimum, ANSI/ISEA 138 Level 2" is. Starting from the hazard also stops the most expensive mistake in hand protection, which is buying one glove and hoping it covers everything.

Can one pair of work gloves cover every hazard?

Rarely, and it is worth being honest about why. Some gloves genuinely carry two or three ratings — the ProFlex 7551 is rated for cut and built for cold and wet at once — but combinations have limits, and no glove carries a cut level, an impact level, a chemical breakthrough time, and an electrical class simultaneously. Crews doing genuinely mixed work usually end up with two or three pairs, and that is cheaper than the injury that follows one compromise glove.

Does a higher rating always mean better protection?

Only against the hazard it measures, and it costs something elsewhere. Higher cut levels use thicker or denser yarns, which reduces finger feel; heavier impact padding adds bulk on the back of the hand. The failure mode is predictable — a glove that makes the task awkward comes off, and a glove in a pocket has a protection level of zero. Specify to the assessed hazard, then take the most dexterous glove that meets it, not the highest number on the shelf.

What do construction gloves need that general gloves do not?

Usually two ratings rather than one. Construction work tends to combine abrasive materials with struck-hand risk — handling rebar, forming, rigging, and demolition all put the back of the hand in the way of something — so a cut rating alone leaves the most likely construction injury unaddressed. Look for a stated ANSI/ISEA 138 impact level alongside the cut level, and where power tools are involved, treat vibration as a third, separate requirement.

Are these work gloves OSHA compliant?

Compliance is a property of your hazard assessment, not of a glove. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.138 requires you to select protection appropriate to the identified hazards; a glove supports compliance when its stated ratings match what your assessment found, and no glove is "OSHA approved" in the abstract. That is why we publish ratings rather than compliance badges — the rating is checkable, the badge would not be.

Getting the fit and the lifecycle right

Sizing is where good specifications quietly fail. A loose glove bunches and exposes the fingertips, and an over-tight one causes fatigue that gets it removed — use the glove sizing guide or the glove size chart before ordering for a crew rather than after. For chemical work, breakthrough time is material-and-substance specific, so check the chemical compatibility reference against the actual substance rather than assuming nitrile covers it. If you are setting a cut level, the cut resistance level selector works from the task backwards.

On lifecycle: most coated and knitted gloves are washable, and laundering rather than discarding is the single biggest cost lever in hand protection. Coatings degrade faster than shells, so a glove can look serviceable while its grip is finished, and heat or bleach can damage high-performance yarns — follow the manufacturer's care instructions. Retire any glove with a hole, a frayed seam, or a cut through the coating, because a damaged glove no longer performs at its rated level and the rating was the reason it was specified.

Deeper reading: the cut-resistant guide, choosing by ANSI level, the EN 388 explainer for European ratings, the nitrile guide and nitrile vs latex for single-use, plus our best cut-resistant and best impact-resistant picks.

Work gloves FAQ

How do I choose the right work glove for my hazard?

Name the injury you are preventing, then require a stated rating for exactly that hazard: ANSI/ISEA 105 for cut, ANSI/ISEA 138 for impact, ISO 10819 for vibration, EN 374 for chemicals. Material and price come after the rating, never before it.

Can one pair of work gloves cover every hazard?

Rarely. Some gloves carry two or three ratings at once, but none carries a cut level, impact level, chemical breakthrough time, and electrical class together. Mixed work usually needs two or three pairs.

Does a higher rating always mean better protection?

Only against the hazard it measures, and it costs dexterity. Over-specifying produces gloves people remove for fine work, and a removed glove protects nothing. Take the most dexterous glove that meets the assessed hazard.

Are these work gloves OSHA compliant?

Compliance is a property of your hazard assessment, not of a glove. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.138 requires protection appropriate to identified hazards; a glove supports compliance when its ratings match what your assessment found. No glove is "OSHA approved" in the abstract.

What is the difference between cut, impact, and coated gloves?

Cut gloves are graded A1–A9 under ANSI/ISEA 105 for blade resistance. Impact gloves are graded Levels 1–3 under ANSI/ISEA 138 for blows to the back of the hand. Coated gloves describe a construction — a nitrile, PU, or latex palm coating for grip and abrasion — which is not a hazard rating at all.

What do construction gloves need that general work gloves do not?

Usually a stated impact rating alongside the cut rating, because construction combines abrasive material handling with struck-hand risk. Where power tools are used, treat vibration as a third separate requirement.

Are safety gloves and work gloves the same thing?

In practice the terms are used interchangeably, but "safety gloves" implies a rated hazard control while "work gloves" often just means general-duty handling. Judge by the stated rating rather than the label on the packaging.

What do the numbers on Ergodyne ProFlex gloves mean?

They are model numbers within the ProFlex range, not ratings — the 7000 series is coated cut-resistant, the 900 series covers impact and vibration, and the 7500 series is winter. Always read the stated ANSI or ISO rating on the individual model rather than inferring protection from the number.

Can work gloves be washed and reused?

Most coated and knitted gloves launder well, and this is the biggest cost lever in hand protection. Follow the manufacturer's care instructions, since heat and bleach can damage high-performance yarns, and retire any glove with a hole, frayed seam, or damaged coating.

Do cut-resistant gloves protect against chemicals?

No. Cut resistance is a mechanical property tested with a blade; chemical protection is a permeation property tested per substance under EN 374. Check compatibility against the specific chemical rather than assuming any glove material covers it.

What size work gloves should I order?

Measure rather than guess, using the manufacturer's chart for the specific model — sizing is not consistent between brands. A loose glove exposes the fingertips, and an over-tight one causes fatigue that gets it removed.

Which gloves are right for handling live electrical conductors?

Only rubber insulating gloves rated to the voltage class you are working, per ASTM D120 and OSHA 29 CFR 1910.137, with the required inspection and retest intervals. No cut, impact, or general work glove offers any electrical protection.

Why trust WC Safety on hand protection?

WC Safety reviews workplace PPE full-time as an independent affiliate site — we do not sell products, hold no inventory, and take no paid placements. On this hub that independence shows up as a refusal to sell one glove as the answer to every hazard: we organize by governing standard, we never carry a rating from one standard to another, and where a category has no product that addresses a hazard we say so rather than routing you to the nearest thing. Standards referenced here are ANSI/ISEA 105, ANSI/ISEA 138, ISO 10819, EN 374, ASTM D120, and OSHA 29 CFR 1910.132, 1910.137 and 1910.138. Reviewed by Steven Eaton, WC Safety editor. Last reviewed: July 2026.