ANSI and EN388 cutting standard difference

I am talking with some quick tips for purchasing cut resistant gloves with different test standard.

So choosing the right glove for your application can be a challenge and existing gloves are subject to two different safety standard based on two different testing methods.

ANSI 105 is the most accepted standard in North American. This rating is indicated by capital A followed by a number between 1 and 9 and is reflective of the amount of weight applied to a blade in order to cut through the material.

The average of all the test scores in converted into the 9 level classification, scales reported as A1 to A9. This scale ranges from 200 gram of cut resistance to 6000 gram of cut resistance. This rating system replaces the previous 1 to 5 rating scales the new segmented rating system has removed previous gaps and helps reduce the usage of insufficient PPE by making it easier to clearly identify the level of protection your PPE provides for you.

So for example the A4 we see on the glove tell us it has a cut resistance rating of 4 on the 1 to 9 scale.

The other standard is European standard EN388 which utilized a CE score, the measure the glove resistance in 4 different areas Abrasion, Cut, Tear, Puncture. The current EN388 cut standards requires all hand protection to be tested on the coop cut test machine.

The coop cut test used a circular blade that moves back and forth across the sample fabric under a fixed weight of 500 grams to the number of rotations needed to cut through the fabric are counted in a ratio is reported comparing the PPE fabric sample to a control sample the ratio is given an index and that index is applied to a 1 through 5 rating scale.

Here, I won’t comment which is better testing method used by these two governing bodies, but I will note that the method used to generate the CE blade cut score is generally not considered to be as accurate as the anti cut score especially with higher strength materials.

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