Traditionally or the initial purpose of colour application in disposable glove was to indicate latex-free glove. Nitrile gloves were usually available in shades of blue while latex gloves were natural or available in white. The importance of this falls to people with latex allergies so that they can easily identify which gloves were latex-free. Under the improvements of technology and production process, many glove manufacturers now able to offer more varieties of colours thus giving businesses more options. Colours available now are such as blue, black, green, grey, orange, pink, purple, white and more.
Does it make you wonder whether there are other purposes?
General Purposes
Protection and prevention are the main purpose of disposable gloves in healthcare, food and cleanroom industry. The common types of gloves are made from nitrile, vinyl or natural rubber. The applications of colours are not just to distinguish between latex and nitrile but also with vinyl or industrial gloves too. Users can remember what gloves are ideal for what use and among health professionals to ensure patient and user safety.
In Laboratories and Hospitals
The colour of the glove does not affect the quality of protection or strength of nitrile gloves. The simple reason behind such colour variation in nitrile gloves is mostly due to industry preference. For example, laboratory areas segmentation by colour of disposable glove can ensure lab workers don’t cause cross-contamination by moving from one area to another area of the lab. Furthermore, working with one material then going into a different area is a potentially hazardous action that can cause cross-contamination in the lab. This visual distinction helps to reduce cross contamination or differentiation of quality for example, a white glove may have a lower ISO or other certification rating than a blue glove, allowing employees to easily distinguish the two.
Double Gloving
With an increase in colour options, double gloving makes it easier for workers in highly infectious situations to identify when outer gloves are ripped or torn during use. This prevents the spread of bacteria from bare hands and to protect users in reducing the risk of contamination and the spread of illness from harmful chemicals or bloodborne pathogens in healthcare environments. Double gloving can reduce exposure to pathogens by as much as 87% according to research. Besides that, healthcare practitioners can wear a dark glove over a lighter coloured glove to aid in puncture detection while handling sharp medical tools. Should the outer glove rip, the lighter colour will show the tears and punctures.
In Food Industry
Colour of gloves is important as it provides visual contrast. In food industry pale blue-coloured gloves are preferred because blue is the least present in food as there are no naturally occurring blue foodstuffs. If one part of the gloves rips and gets into the food being prepared, it can be quickly detected and be removed. Also, colour coded gloves are used to prevent cross-contamination of raw and cooked foods during food handling.
Specific Purposes
White
In cleanroom and controlled environments, contamination is a constant concern. Contaminants can come from the glove, from the workers or other materials.
White cleanroom gloves are the industry standard where contamination is easier to see and also conveys and promotes clean message to workers. Moreover, colour is a glove additive and it can react with the product or processes so less colour additives is preferred. Which is also true for the case of using white cleanroom gloves, as white is also an added colour and generally white gloves contain less dye than other colours which in return reduces the risk of unwanted reactions.
Dark Blue/ Shades of Blue or Purple
Blue Gloves are the most common across all medical and scientific applications. It matches the disposable apparel worn by doctors, nurses and dentists. Blue gloves, unless otherwise listed, don’t protect against chemotherapy drugs and other highly corrosive chemicals. For this reason and ease of supply and inexpensive costs, blue gloves are ideal for basic medical and scientific applications.
Darker shades of blue are used for reduction in the visibility of blood. Purple gloves are rated to be suitable for chemotherapy applications and friendlier to patients. Some find that blue is too associated with cold hospital operation tables and covering sheets, influencing patients to be more receptive to purple gloves.
Black
Law enforcement officers appreciate being able to distinguish themselves from medical professionals who are also first responders to emergencies. They routinely wear black nitrile gloves that benefit them from seeing white substances easily. Law officers can easily trace any white powders or residues that may turn up illicit materials found in their operations against drug abuse offenders. Besides that, black also extends professionalism or colour code from the uniform of a police officer just as what we see of blue in the healthcare practitioners.
Orange
Orange nitrile gloves are often used by automobile mechanics and many applications that require a worker to be in dark confined spaces. The High-Visual colour can visually aid in knowing where your hands are at all times and certainly add a level of safety during servicing or any engineering operations. Orange nitrile gloves are loved by engineers for their ability to see dark grease and oil stains where leak detection is important and usually the cause of main failure of hydraulics and machineries.
Side Notes
Glove colour has become an effective marketing and branding tool which we will likely continue to see new glove colours. Nevertheless, the glove colour choice will still be influenced by the industry, purchasing decisions and cost.
In 1810, German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published Theory of Colours. The book presented Goethe’s views on the nature of colours and how they are perceived by humans. Since then, fast food companies, advertisement design firms, and marketing strategists have laboured over the potential effects of colours to the human mind.
Below is a glove colour list along with what they might psychologically symbolize:
Blue – Competence, Corporate, High Quality, Masculinity
Violet/Purple – Authority, Powerful, Sophistication
Black – Premium, Sophistication
White – Happiness, Purity, Sincerity
Pink – Femininity, Sincerity, Sweet
Green – Good taste
Adapted From : https://nanotouche.com/2021/11/27/for-officers-and-engineers/