Polyco on hand

What do people look for when selecting gloves?

We find the most important function of a glove is not purely to offer protection but it also needs to be comfortable, fit well, offer full movement and have a good grip. Once a pair of gloves can meet these requirements we find we’re onto a winner.

How have you incorporated these requirements into your range?

The humble glove has come along way from ‘one size fits all’ to highly technically produced hand protection that differs from one working environment to the next.

As one of Europe’s leading specialists in the development and production of hand protection, we have been at the forefront of designing gloves for emerging new workplaces such as waste and recycling facilities as well as perfecting gloves for established working environments such as building and construction sites.

Polyco is totally customer focused. Our corporate motto is ‘Quality, Service and Innovation’ and it is all about satisfying our customers' needs both today, by providing the highest levels of quality and service and in the future, by developing the next generation of hand protection solutions.

To ensure the quality of our gloves remains high, our products are subject to one of the most rigorous Quality Assurance regimes in the glove industry.

We are committed to maintaining the highest levels of product quality, customer service and ethical standards, whilst minimising our impact on the environment.

What recent products have stood out for you?

Without doubt, the three new gloves we debuted at the Health & Safety Event in NEC in March are remarkable for different reasons. The Multi-Task E and Multi-Task L gloves provide excellent performance in a variety of applications, and are appropriate for use in several industries such as automotive maintenance and repair, construction work, general assembly, light engineering work and machine operation.

The highly flexible thermoplastic rubber protection applied to the back of the hand and fingers, has been carefully engineered to safeguard from impact injury without restricting movement or dexterity. The choice of materials has been carefully combined to assure optimum comfort, alleviating hand fatigue so often associated with gloves with added impact protection.

Specifically the Multi-Task E glove has a nitrile palm coating with a sand blasted finish which improves handling performance, particularly in light oil applications.

The Multi-Task L glove has a nylon mesh liner with a soft padded leather palm providing excellent grip. Spandex has been used between the fingers to add greater flexibility and increase breathability.

The third glove we launched at the Health & Safety Event was the Matrix Touch 1. This glove can be used on touch screen machinery and portable touch screen devices. The Matrix Touch 1 provides good abrasion and tear resistance offering an assured grip in both wet and dry conditions. The close fitting design makes it perfect for meticulous tasks requiring care and precision, and the elasticated knitted wrist further enhances the fit and keeps the hands free from dust and debris. An extremely versatile glove, the touch sensitive Matrix Touch 1 has the additional bonus of being incredibly good value for money. The Matrix Touch 1 is typically used for: general assembly, electronics, light engineering work, joinery and component handling.

What do you think the future holds for the hand protection market?

Glove manufacturing is changing rapidly with the development of advanced raw materials. Thinner, lighter, stronger yarns and more resistant polymers will combine to make gloves more flexible, improve fit and comfort, provide higher levels of protection especially for cut and heat.

In relation to glove wearers, there will be an increased need to educate them on the benefits of choosing the right glove for the right job, so that they can be provided with a glove that goes above and beyond the basic protection needed in the workplace.

With such a wide variety of gloves available on the market it can be a confusing and complicated process to select the most appropriate pair for the job. To help sort through the sea of options and ensure you make the right decision, Polyco has created the Hand Protection Assessment Survey (HPAS). The HPAS service is available free of charge to companies with 50+ employees and helps to identify the exact specification of the most suitable hand protection.