The challenge: "One of the recognized hazards identified by our employees was the need for cut resistant gloves that protected the knuckles on the hand from minor cuts and abrasions. An employee suggested that we purchase different cut resistant gloves. The gloves that were being used had cut resistance material on the bottom half of the glove but no cut resistant material covering the knuckles."

The solution

"Initially, there was hesitation to purchase because the cost of the gloves was more than the ones currently used. With this in mind, we put the gloves to the test on our production floor. We utilized two grinding operators in the finishing area and one operator in our fabrication area that worked with both our shear and press brake machines. The gloves held up for three x 50-hour work weeks within the grinding area and two x 50-hour work weeks within the fabrication area."

The result

"With the old gloves, our annual use was 76 pair per employee. Using gloves with Dyneema® we will cut our annual usage to an estimated 25 pairs per employee. In addition we have shown a decrease of reported first aid cuts for the calendar year from 48 to one, thus having an impact on our first aid costs as well."