Failure of glove hole detection device for synthetic gloves

Abstract

Holes in latex gloves can be reliably detected by commercially available electronic devices. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of an electronic glove hole detection device using latex gloves to that of neoprene, vinyl, and nitrile latex-free gloves. The electronic hole detection device accurately detected holes in the latex gloves during the 2-h study. In contrast, the latex-free gloves were immediately conductive of electricity in the absence of holes. Consequently, electronic glove hole detection devices cannot be reliably used with latex-free gloves. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res (Appl Biomater) 48: 24–26, 1999