Hand care for manufacturing workers

01 · The line

Wash, glove, degrease, repeat

Assembly, machining, molding, packing, maintenance. You wash at the start of the shift, pull on nitrile, latex or vinyl gloves, handle parts and coatings all day, and scrub off grease after every machine job.

Every one of those steps is part of doing the job right. Together, five days a week, they’re hard on the hands doing them, and whatever is on those hands can end up on the product.

NIOSH counts skin disease among the most common work-related illnesses.CDC / NIOSH, Skin Exposures and Effects

02 · The barrier

Your barrier is a brick wall

• Skin cells
• Oils and lipids
• Water
• Solvent cleaners

The outermost layer of skin, the stratum corneum, is made of dead skin cells held together by natural oils and lipids. Picture bricks and mortar. The mortar holds moisture in and keeps irritants out.

Frequent washing strips those oils. Solvent hand cleaners cut grease by dissolving oil, including the skin’s own. Gloves worn all shift trap sweat against the skin. By mid-week the mortar is thin, and hands feel it.

Sources: R&R Lotion blog, Protecting Your Skin with Barrier Creams (2023) and The Do’s and Don’ts of Skin Care Products in Industrial Settings (2023).

03 · What develops

Irritant contact dermatitis

• Water escaping
• Irritants

Keep exposing skin to water, solvents, oils and the inside of a glove and the barrier breaks down. That’s irritant contact dermatitis. It starts as redness, itching and dryness and can progress to cracking and blistering.

Cracked hands make every wash sting, and that’s when people reach for whatever lotion is in their bag. Lotions from home often carry silicones, lanolin, glycerin or mineral oils, and those can end up on parts, coatings and finished goods.

There’s a second type, allergic contact dermatitis, where skin becomes sensitized to something it touches, including some glove materials. If your hands won’t heal, get them looked at. Source: R&R Lotion blog, Understanding Occupational Dermatitis (2023).

04 · Why we built it

Built to pass quality

Production hands need a cleaner that cuts grease without solvents, and a lotion that won’t show up as a defect on a coated part. So we built both without the silicones, lanolin, glycerin and mineral oils that cause contamination problems.

Both I.C. Lotions are dermatologist tested: a 50-subject patch test with zero reactions.ALS / BioScreen, FDA-registered lab, Study 22-522A (2022)

05 · On the line

When to use what

1. 1
   Start of shiftWash with I.C. Antibacterial Hand Cleaner, dry, then I.C. Lotion. Let it dry before you pull on gloves.
2. 2
   After a greasy jobI.C. Heavy Duty Hand Cleaner at the utility sink instead of a solvent. Rinse well, then lotion before you glove up again.
3. 3
   Break timeGloves off, wash, and lotion again. Fresh gloves on the way back to the line.
4. 4
   End of shiftAfter your last wash, Advanced Repair Hand Cream on dry or chapped hands, once you’re off the floor.

Follow your plant’s PPE and contamination-control rules and the label directions on each product.