At a glance
- General industry: 29 CFR 1910.138(a) and (b). Construction: protective equipment for the extremities, 29 CFR 1926.95(a).
- About 5 minutes: read the script out loud, then ask the three questions.
- FY2025 citations: 29 CFR 1910.138, 207 (2 at construction sites); 29 CFR 1926.95, 115 (106 at construction sites).
- Free PDF: the script, the questions, the rule and a 20-line sign-in sheet. No account, no email.
Read this to your crew
Today is about hands. Every task on this job runs through them: carrying, cutting, fastening, holding the work in place. Most of us carry a scar or two, and most of those scars came from a job we had done a hundred times before.
Start with how hands get hurt here. Blades and sharp edges: utility knives, sheet metal, glass, the cut end of rebar. Crushing: material that shifts while we carry it, a tailgate that swings shut, a load that lands before the fingers are clear. Punctures from nails in scrap lumber and from wire ends. Burns from hot work, hot pipe and chemicals. Some chemicals burn right away; others pass through the skin without any pain, and those are the ones we miss.
Gloves are the last line, so match them to the job in front of you. A cotton glove stops splinters and little else. A cut-resistant glove is made for blades and sheet metal. A chemical glove is made of a material matched to the product, and Section 8 of the safety data sheet names the protection the supplier recommends. Leather handles heat, sparks and rough block. One glove for every task means the wrong glove for most of them.
There is one place where a glove is the hazard: near parts that spin. A drill press, a lathe or a rotating shaft can catch a glove and pull the hand in with it. Check what the machine's manual says about gloves, and ask me before you glove up at a machine that spins.
Before you reach, look where the hand is going. Keep fingers out of the gap between a load and whatever it lands on. Place material with a push stick, a tag line or a tool, and keep the hand out of the path of the blade. Retract a knife blade after each cut, and cut away from your body. Leave guards in place; a guard pulled back for a better view is how fingers get lost.
Last point. Tell me about every cut, even a small one. A cut with a chemical in it, or one that gets infected, can turn into lost time. We get it cleaned and covered, and we work out together what put the hand there.
Three questions for the crew
- Which task on today's job could cut, crush or burn a hand, and which glove does that task call for?
Listen for: A named task and a matching glove. If the answer is "whatever is in the truck", check what the truck holds before work starts. - Where on this site would wearing a glove put a hand at risk?
Listen for: Drill presses, lathes, spinning bits and shafts. The answer ends with: check the manual and ask first. - When did your hand last end up somewhere it should not have been, and what put it there?
Listen for: Reaching between a load and its landing spot, clearing a jam on a running tool, cutting toward the body. Each answer is a pinch point or a blade path to fix.
What are OSHA's rules for hand protection?
In general industry, employers select hand protection and require employees to use it when their hands are exposed to hazards such as skin absorption of harmful substances, severe cuts or lacerations, severe abrasions, punctures, chemical burns, thermal burns and harmful temperature extremes (29 CFR 1910.138(a)). The choice rests on how the glove performs against the task, the conditions, the duration of use and the hazards (29 CFR 1910.138(b)).
Construction has no section written for gloves alone. Protective equipment for the extremities is provided, used and maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition wherever the hazards make it necessary (29 CFR 1926.95(a)), and the employer provides it at no cost to employees, with the exceptions the rule lists (29 CFR 1926.95(d)(1)).
Gloves used only to protect against the weather are one of those exceptions (29 CFR 1926.95(d)(4)(ii)); general industry has the same one (29 CFR 1910.132(h)(4)(iii)).
The paragraphs, word for word:
“(a) General requirements. Employers shall select and require employees to use appropriate hand protection when employees' hands are exposed to hazards such as those from skin absorption of harmful substances; severe cuts or lacerations; severe abrasions; punctures; chemical burns; thermal burns; and harmful temperature extremes.”
“(b) Selection. Employers shall base the selection of the appropriate hand protection on an evaluation of the performance characteristics of the hand protection relative to the task(s) to be performed, conditions present, duration of use, and the hazards and potential hazards identified.”
“(a) Application. Protective equipment, including personal protective equipment for eyes, face, head, and extremities, protective clothing, respiratory devices, and protective shields and barriers, shall be provided, used, and maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition wherever it is necessary by reason of hazards of processes or environment, chemical hazards, radiological hazards, or mechanical irritants encountered in a manner capable of causing injury or impairment in the function of any part of the body through absorption, inhalation or physical contact.”
How often did OSHA cite these rules in FY2025?
| Standard | Construction sites | Other industries | All FY2025 citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 CFR 1910.138Hand protection, general industry | 2 | 205 | 207 |
| 29 CFR 1926.95Criteria for protective equipment, construction | 106 | 9 | 115 |
Citation items under 29 CFR issued Oct 1, 2024 to Sep 30, 2025, at federal and State Plan inspections, counted by HazComFast on U.S. Department of Labor enforcement data (extracted Oct 13, 2026). Construction means an inspection whose NAICS code starts with 23. The counts describe inspected establishments, not every employer.
Which glove for which hazard?
| Hazard on the job | Glove to look for | Check before use |
|---|---|---|
| Blades, sheet metal, glass | Cut-resistant glove, with its cut rating on the label | Cuts or thin spots in the palm and fingertips |
| Splinters, rough lumber, block | Leather or coated work glove | Holes and worn fingertips |
| Chemicals | The material named in Section 8 of the safety data sheet or in the glove maker's chemical chart | Pinholes, swelling, stiffness or a change of color |
| Heat, sparks, welding | Leather welding glove | Burned-through or hardened spots |
| Cold and wet | Insulated, waterproof glove, with a dry spare pair | Wet liners |
| Spinning tools and machines | What the machine's manual says, which may be no glove at all | Ask before you wear one |
Cut ratings come from ANSI/ISEA 105, a consensus standard and not an OSHA requirement.