Cleanroom Gloves vs. Examination Gloves: What Are The Differences?
We know cleanroom gloves cost more than traditional exam gloves. They look the same, feel the same, are made of the same material, and even smell the same. So, why do you pay a premium for a cleanroom glove? Understand the value of cleanroom gloves versus exam for your contaminant-free environment with our guide.
The Roles Gloves Play in Preventing Contamination
The Purpose of Exam Gloves
The purpose of examination gloves is to serve as a shield for the wearer. They protect your hands from outside contaminants that could otherwise cause them harm. Healthcare workers, for instance, don examination gloves to reduce exposure to pathogens. Without standard exam gloves, people are put at a higher risk of contracting germs or infections.
The Purpose of Cleanroom Gloves
Despite still covering the hands of the wearer, cleanroom gloves fulfill a different role than exam gloves do. Rather than protecting the wearer themselves, cleanroom gloves protect a product or a process from the person wearing the gloves. Cleanroom gloves are especially important for high-sensitivity environments where human hands or “dirty gloves” can heavily impede progress (or force you to start a process over to be contaminant-free).
Cleansing & Packaging of Gloves
The Cleansing & Packaging Process of Exam Gloves
Before being packaged into their boxes, examination gloves are chlorinated to remove bacteria. From there, the manufacturers will place the gloves into cardboard boxes, similar to what you’ve likely seen before in your doctor’s office. While this level of cleansing and packaging is sufficient for many tasks, undesirable particles within the cardboard have the potential to contaminate critical environments. This is why cleanroom gloves undergo a different process.
The Cleansing & Packaging Process of Cleanroom Gloves
Overall, cleanroom gloves experience a much more rigorous cleansing and packaging process. Cleanroom gloves are washed, chlorinated, and rinsed in highly filtered deionized water. This clean washing process is often done multiple times and takes place in a cleanroom environment in order to ensure high levels of cleanliness. The gloves are then dried and packaged in bags that have most likely been manufactured and processed in a cleanroom similar to the way the gloves were. This further ensures that the cleanroom gloves are contaminant-free and ready to use.
Discover Which Type of Glove is Right for You
In conclusion, the main difference between cleanroom gloves and exam gloves are the standards of clean they withhold. Cleanroom gloves and exam gloves are both considered clean; however, cleanroom gloves also meet certain standards that classify them into a much higher category of clean, which is “cleanroom clean”. So, which one is right for you?
If micro particles cause you problems and your gloves come in direct contact with your product or process, you must make sure you have “cleanroom clean” gloves. On the other hand, if you want something cleaner than the average hand, but don’t need the cleanliness of the cleanroom glove, then an exam glove may be the best fit for you. We sell them both and are not biased! Our goal is to get you what you need. Nothing more, nothing less.