Comfort and performance of power line maintainers' gloves during electrical utility work in the cold

Electrical utility workers wear thick rubber gloves and often work in the cold.

To document the challenge of working in the cold and the effectiveness of different glove/liner combinations in keeping workers' hands warm.

Ten experienced male electrical utility employees worked in a controlled temperature walk-in chamber at -20 °C for 45 minutes for each of five glove conditions: standard five-finger rubber gloves with cotton liners and gauntlets, mitten style gloves, a prototype wool liner, and two heating options; glove or torso. Dependent measures were maximum grip force, skin temperatures, finger dexterity and sensitivity to touch, ratings of perceived effort and a rating of thermal sensation.

Participants' hand skin temperatures decreased, they perceived their hands to be much colder, their finger sensitivity decreased and their ratings of perceived exertion increased, however their performance did not degrade over the 45 minute trials. The mitten-style gloves showed a smaller drop in skin temperature for the 3rd and 5th digits (p< 0.05) than the other glove conditions.

Mitten style gloves kept workers' hands warmer than the standard five finger glove.