A Complete Guide to UK PPE Glove Regulations, Standards and Certifications
UK glove requirements
Protective gloves supplied for workplace use must comply with the PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425 as retained in UK law. Depending on the route to market and product, compliant PPE may carry UKCA or CE marking. The marking is only the starting point: buyers should also confirm that the glove is appropriate for the specific risk assessment and intended job.
Glove risk categories
PPE gloves are grouped by the seriousness of the risk they are intended to protect against:
| Category | Risk level | Typical hazards and tasks | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category I | Low | Light cleaning, gardening and simple handling. | Manufacturer declaration. |
| Category II | Intermediate | Common industrial hazards, including abrasion, tearing, puncture and cuts. | Requires independent assessment. |
| Category III | Serious or irreversible | Chemicals, electrical hazards and extreme temperatures. | Additional manufacturer controls and ongoing assessment. |
For vehicle movements, a glove may need to address more than hand protection alone. It should offer the necessary mechanical protection while enabling workers to give clear, confident signals. Stop’N’Go’s coloured-palm design was developed to improve the visibility of those signals where conventional dark-coated palms may be harder for drivers to distinguish.
Key glove standards
EN ISO 21420: General requirements
This is the foundation standard for protective gloves. It covers areas such as sizing, fit, comfort, dexterity and material safety. A glove that fits properly is more likely to be worn correctly and allow the wearer to carry out hand signals accurately.
EN 388: Mechanical risks
EN 388 is the principal standard for many handling, construction, logistics, recycling and warehousing gloves. It assesses resistance to:
- Abrasion
- Blade cut
- Tear
- Puncture
- TDM cut resistance, graded A to F
- Impact protection, where applicable
For teams working around vehicles, mobile plant or waste and recycling operations, EN 388 performance should be matched to the actual handling hazards on site—not selected on visibility alone.
EN ISO 374: Chemicals and micro-organisms
Chemical-resistant gloves are tested to EN ISO 374. The Type A, B and C classifications reflect the number of chemicals against which the glove achieves a defined breakthrough-time performance. Always check the glove’s chemical list and breakthrough data against the substances used on site.
EN 407: Heat and flame
For welding, foundry work and other hot-work environments, EN 407 assesses protection against hazards including flame, contact heat, radiant heat and molten-metal splash.
EN 511: Cold
EN 511 applies to gloves intended for cold environments, including outdoor winter work and freezer operations. It considers resistance to convective and contact cold.
Choosing gloves for vehicle movements
When selecting gloves for a banksman, reversing assistant or other worker directing vehicles, consider both protection and communication:
- Identify the handling hazards: abrasion, cuts, wet conditions, cold or other risks.
- Check the relevant EN standard and performance level.
- Ensure the glove fits well enough to maintain dexterity.
- Consider whether drivers can clearly recognise hand signals at distance, in poor weather or low light.
- Train workers and drivers to use consistent, agreed signals.
Stop’N’Go gloves support this final point through their high-contrast palm design, helping make the hand movements of a reversing assistant or banksman more visible to drivers. They are intended to complement-not replace-traffic-management controls, competent supervision, agreed signalling methods and a suitable risk assessment.
Explore Stop’N’Go safety gloves
Stop’N’Go offers safety gloves with distinctive coloured palms for clearer workplace communication during vehicle and mobile-plant movements. The range includes palm-coated and fully coated options, with products designed for different levels of mechanical protection.
Choose the glove around the hazard, then make communication visibility part of the conversation. What are the main vehicle-movement risks your customers or teams need their gloves to address?