What are your thoughts on glove use in an organic chemistry lab setting?
I was trained from my Bachelor’s to always wear gloves in lab unless using equipment and lab computers with clear instructions stating otherwise. Even in the safety course during my Ph.D., we discussed the benefits of wearing gloves as an extra layer of protection that buys time to reduce chemical exposure. No glove can behave as a barrier to all chemicals, but I was trained to be vigilant to chemical exposure on my gloves and remove them as quickly as possible.
I have recently joined another academic lab as a postdoc, and I learned that this chemistry department takes the exact opposite stance to glove safety. Here, gloves apparently only give researchers a false sense of security that can dull the sense of touch and prevent you from recognizing chemical exposure. This delay can then increase your chemical exposure as the chemical absorbs through the glove. I always see my labmates and others grab chemicals and solvents without gloves.
Before you get judgemental, I’m not a complete prude. I have been known to grab clean looking bottles and containers without gloves. But some of these people have been trained to the point where they are comfortable grabbing nasty ass bottles as if there isn’t an increased risk.
Honestly, people can do what they want. I am mostly salty about the gentle reprimands I get every month of lab safety and my misuse of gloves.
It depends. In my experience: in an academic laboratory I have been able to use common sense.
For example, gloves go on when working with strong acids/bases. The statement:
Does not apply as much when you are working with such corrosive agents, because you really should never be in a position where spilling 4 M HCl into your hands would go unnoticed.
When working with large quantitites of oils, even if non-hazardous, gloves go on and they will probably get oil in them.
When working with cell cultures, the goal is often to not contaminate the cultures. Some people prefer to wash their hands thoroughly and not use gloves, and they have been working at it for many years and they seem to do just fine. It’s a risk mitigation strategy - if the cultures have antibiotics and fungicides, risk is already not too high.
In an industry setting it is different. Companies often comply with specific standards and health and safety regulations. While the individual can use common sense, the people in charge of ascertaining compliance (sometimes ‘EHS’, Environment, health and safety personnel) aren’t necessarily chemists themselves, nor should they need to be aware of the identity of the transparent liquid in the flask that you are holding. So, generic rules are often set in place not only because of their practical utility but also to simplify enforcement. In some cases external auditors can come in (announced or not) and verify compliance - this, again is much simpler when the rule is ‘lab coat behind yellow line, gloves always on when touching a container with a liquid’ than having to interview each person to understand what they were touching without gloves and to understand their philosophy of why they chose to do so.