Testing Electrical Protection Gloves

Air Leakage Test Kit

          Electrical Protection Gloves are an important part of the personnel protective equipment of people working in electric equipment.  Electrical Gloves should be used when working on High voltage equipment (See article on Electrical Gloves).

           Using damaged electrical gloves which do not have the required dielectric strength can seriously compromise safety and is extremely dangerous.  It is therefore essential to check electrical Gloves at regular intervals.  Electrical Gloves should be checked before they are issued to personnel and after every six month thereafter.  Electrical Gloves need to be checked for physical integrity and for insulating strength. 

               Physical integrity checks involve checks for cuts,abrasions or punctures.  This done by blowing air into the gloves and checking for any leakage.  There is no specific method to do this.  Just blowing air into the glove and them observing for any loss of air would be sufficient. Special Glove testers are available in the market. 

Insulation Test for Gloves

               The other test to be done on the gloves is the dielectric strength test.  Electrical gloves are rated by the voltage they should be used on.  It is necessary to test the gloves at this voltage.  The test is done by a special apparatus.

               The gloves are hung on holders and then filled with water.  The gloves are then immersed into the liquid bath.  A high voltage is applied between the water inside the glove and the water in the bath.  If current flows through the glove, the glove is rejected. 

               Glove testing should be carried out after every incident.