Vibration-isolating performance of cotton work gloves based on newly issued JIS T8114.

The mean vibration transmissibility values were measured for cotton work gloves commonly used in vibration-generating workplaces to evaluate the vibration isolating performance of cotton work gloves. The mean vibration transmissibility values of work cotton gloves were compared with those of four types of anti-vibration gloves measured in the same way. All the measurements were performed based on the newly issued JIS T8114 that is identical to ISO10819. Also, linear transmissibility values were calculated from the measured data. Cotton work glove samples did not satisfy the requirements specified in JIS T8114. All the test samples showed mean vibration transmissibility values of more than 1.0 for spectra M and H. In contrast, all the anti-vibration gloves tested in this study satisfied the JIS T8114 requirements. The linear transmissibility values of cotton work gloves were consistently higher than those of anti-vibration gloves for spectrum H. The linear transmissibility values of cotton work gloves were steady at about 0.9 up to 200 Hz, then increased with vibration frequency to about 1.0 at 400 Hz. In contrast, the linear transmissibility values of anti-vibration gloves increased with frequency to 1.0 at 30 Hz and then decreased with small peaks at 100 Hz and 300 Hz. Our results suggest that cotton work gloves do not show enough vibration-isolating performance. Therefore, attention should be paid to encouraging the widespread use of anti-vibration gloves in place of cotton work gloves to reduce exposure to hand-arm vibration.