Control of nitrile gloves

Hi there,

I was hoping to get some guidance on how to better manage the usage of nitrile gloves in our production lines. Currently, we have one box of gloves on each line, which staff members use as needed. However, I am exploring ways to improve this process. In this regard, I would like to know if it is necessary to keep an inventory of gloves, similar to the inventory we maintain for sharps. Additionally, I would like to know the best way to control the use of gloves.

Hi Anca86 and welcome to the forum. What is your inspiration for improving your control of gloves? Are you concerned about them being a foreign material risk? Are employees not using them enough?

Nothing like having a glove baked into a pound cake (yes, that's right.)

One of our past clients from years ago had so many issues with gloves that they numbered each individual glove as well as the plastic sleave they came in (2 gloves each.) and these were given out at the hand-washing station or by the production asst in the office with the catch being that the used, damaged, etc gloves were turned in.

In turn each box of gloves was also tracked.

It cut down on overuse, waste, etc but it cut down tremendously on inclusion in product and also on loss where employees would grab a bunch of them and take them home.

Let me tell ya, they are great for putting over a hose and using them to water the garden and also stretch them over germination jars for growing vegetables.

I would hate to have to control them at some numbered level, but I also wouldn't want them right next to a production line.  Our programs always required employees to report torn/ripped gloves to a supervisor or QA, with them checking to ensure the glove isn't missing pieces.  Then employees can discard and go grab a fresh pair.  I added a line like "Check production employee gloves during operations" to my weekly GMP audits to try and capture whether employees were continuing to work with torn gloves on their hands.  It became a game for the employees (because they were jerks lol): but they'd see me approaching with my clipboard and line leaders would yell "hands up!" or "Manos arribas!" like I was there to rob them.  And yes, the glove checks were added after the third complaint for a piece of glove in a box we sent to a customer.

We had to control them because people were grabbing way too many and then you would find them scattered on the floor, in weird places, and full of water due to cleanings. We started keeping them in a locked area and distributing them at the QA office. Only certain people were able to request gloves and they had to sign them out on a log. Where we had no luck was keeping them off the lines. I left and the company just did not keep doing this or improving the process. But the log and making sure they only take what they need did work, we could not make it more strict because our QA department was very very small compared to the # of employees and production.