EFFECT OF PROCESSING CONDITIONS ON THE CUT RESISTANCE OF ARAMID FIBERS

摘要

Cuts and lacerations to the hand are a common workplace injury accounting for more than 67,000 lost time incidents in 2007 (1). The use of protective gloves as a means to prevent cut injuries has been well established (2-4), but despite the protective benefit gloves offer, a recent study revealed that only 20% of workers were wearing gloves at the time of injury (4). The study did not determine the reason why so few workers were wearing protective gloves, but the authors postulate that workers are often required to choose between protection and other properties such as comfort, dexterity, and tactile sensitivity. For many applications, gloves that may provide adequate protection are often too bulky or rigid to allow the worker to complete the required tasks, and in some cases, the gloves can even increase the risk of injury (4).