Safety Gloves for Marine and Fishing
Commercial fishing and marine operations combine everything that makes a glove fail. Hands are wet for the whole shift, the deck moves, gear runs under load and there is no opportunity to stop and dry off. Grip retention when soaked is the property that matters most.
Cold water
Seawater conducts heat away from the hand far faster than air, and a wetted out glove becomes a refrigerator. The property needed is an EN 511 rating with the third digit at 1, confirming no water penetrated during the 30 minute test, combined with insulation that keeps working once the outside is soaked.
Cut from lines/nets
Running line under load acts like a saw against a hand placed to guide it, and net mending exposes hands to knife blades and monofilament. Broken wire in trawl warps behaves like a hook. A cut resistant liner at TDM level D or above addresses this, and it must keep working while wet, which favours synthetic liners over cotton blends.
Wet grip loss
A slipping hand on a moving deck is how crew go over gunwales and into machinery. Smooth coatings hydroplane once wet, so the property required is a mechanical grip texture such as a sandy nitrile or crinkle latex finish that displaces water at the contact patch.
Impact
Hatch covers, trawl doors, pot frames and shifting deck gear crush hands against fixed steel. A moulded thermoplastic rubber guard with the EN 388 P designation reduces the severity of a strike that would otherwise break a metacarpal a long way from medical help.
What to specify
Combine EN 388:2016+A1:2018 for cut and impact with EN 511 for cold and water permeability. The water permeability digit is the single most useful figure on a marine glove, because insulation values mean little once the liner is soaked.
Most vessels carry two options. A waterproof insulated glove covers hauling and deck work in cold conditions, and a lighter cut resistant glove with a textured grip covers processing, sorting and net work where dexterity matters more than warmth.
Recommended gloves
- GRANBERG 5501: Heavy-duty cut and impact resistant gloves with Typhoon® fiber and nitrile foam coating.
- GRANBERG 9002: Cut D Impact Hi-Viz™ protective gloves. Durable KR-Grip material in palm and fingers, waterproof, winter lined.
- GRANBERG 8080: Waterproof insulated winter gloves. Double latex coating, acrylic liner.
- GRANBERG 0490: Waterproof double nitrile-coated gloves with exceptional wet/oily grip.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a glove suitable for wet deck work?
A mechanical grip texture that displaces water, such as a sandy nitrile or crinkle latex finish, plus a construction that keeps water out. Smooth coatings hydroplane once wet. Check the third EN 511 digit, where 1 confirms no water penetrated during the 30 minute test.
Do cut resistant gloves still work when wet?
Synthetic liners such as high performance polyethylene and aramid retain their cut resistance when wet, because the fibre does the work rather than the fabric structure. What changes is grip, so choose a coating designed for wet conditions and expect the glove to feel less secure than it does dry.
How should marine gloves be maintained?
Rinse salt off at the end of each shift and dry gloves fully before reuse, because salt crystals abrade the liner from the inside and damp liners lose insulation value. Keep a second pair in rotation so a wet glove is never put straight back on at the start of the next haul.