Original article Effects of simulated pressure of wooden, plastic, and metal materials on the thermal insulation of cold-protective gloves of various designs Emilia Irzman ´ ska and Anna Bacciarelli-Ulacha Abstract The paper proposes a new approach to selecting cold-protective gloves for workers by evaluating the effects of simulated pressure of wood, plastic, and metal materials on the thermal insulation of gloves of various designs. Thermal insulation tests involved three models of gloves offering stable thermal insulation at various temperatures. The tests were carried out on a thermal hand model according to EN 511:2006. In the study, three variants of contact surface were used: metal, plastic, and wood. It was found that the thermal insulation of protective gloves under pressure decreases and depends on the glove construction, surface type, ambient temperature, and pressure variant. The application of pressure decreased the mean thermal insulation of the tested mitts (variant 1) by 30.46% for metal, 21.32% for wood, and 23.04% for plastic at an ambient temperature of –10  C; by 23.12% for metal, 21.79% for wood, and 19.39% for plastic at 0  C; and by 29.88% for metal, 23.80% for wood, and 19.28% for plastic at 10  C. The smallest relative decline in glove thermal insulation for the wooden pressure-simulating element at –10  C and for the plastic element at 10  C and 0  C was found. Therefore, when choosing gloves for manual work in a cold environment, this change in performance level should be taken into account. Keywords thermal insulation, simulated pressure, cold-protective gloves A cold environment is defined as one in which ambient air temperature is equal to or lower than 10  C, whether for indoor or outdoor work activities. Indoor work conditions are typically stable, being determined by the production process. On the other hand, outdoor conditions are highly variable, being largely dependent on atmospheric factors and the season of the year. A cold environment may lead to generalized hypother- mia or to the cooling of individual parts of the body, such as foot and hand skin, especially upon contact with cold surfaces. A local exposure to cold tempera- ture reduces blood flow in the affected body part, potentially resulting in hypoxia and frostbite. Individuals working at low ambient temperatures also exhibit impaired dexterity of the upper and lower extre- mities, which may result in decreased productivity and a higher risk of work accidents. 1 In practice, in order to prevent the adverse consequences of exposure to cold, workers use personal protective devices, such as protective gloves with enhanced thermal insulation. Such products (multi-layer textile or rubber gloves) should be selected depending on the conditions of cold exposure to guarantee good thermal comfort. Glove selection is a non-trivial issue, as many variables need to be taken into account. In a physical sense, ther- mal insulation is the process of preventing heat from transferring between materials that are in thermal con- tact. 2 In the case of protective gloves, it can be defined as resistance to dry heat loss, which includes the Department of Personal Protective Equipment, Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute, Poland Corresponding author: Emilia Irzman ´ska, Central Institute for Labour Protection - National Research Institute, Wierzbowa 48, Lo ´dz ´, 90-133, Poland. Email: emirz@ciop.lodz.pl Textile Research Journal 0(00) 1–11 ! The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0040517519829005 journals.sagepub.com/home/trj