Industrial Hand Gloves Market

The global market for industrial hand gloves is growing rapidly due to strict government regulations for workforce safety and an increase in incidence of accidents in workplaces. However, the growth of the market may be hindered by the increase in automation, across industries.

There are strict government regulations in the US and the European Union (EU) regarding workplace safety. In the US, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), American National Standard for Hand Protection (ANSHP), and the Department of Labor actively look into the safety precautions in the industries for workers. Moreover, in Europe, European Union Cooperation on Workplace Safety & Health, and European Union Occupational Safety and Health Administration (EU OSHA) look after the implementation of the required norms for the safety features and workers safety equipment at worksites. The presence of internationally recognized organizations in developed countries is expected to influence the developing countries to follow the industrial safety standards. Thus, standards/norms established by the OSHA, ANSHP, and EU standards will encourage industrialists to take protective measures to ensure workers safety at worksites.

In the current scenario, the expansion of the automotive, healthcare, chemical, and retail sector has propelled the requirement of safety gloves i.e. industrial hand gloves for workers safety from the hazardous chemicals, metal cuts, glass cuts, and high-temperature sources. Moreover, shifting focus of industries on the prevention of accidents owing to strict norms and regulations from the international and domestic organization will enhance the adoption of industrial gloves and drive the global industrial hand gloves market during the forecast period. Thus, the impact of strict government regulations for workforce safety, is expected to shift from moderate to high over the forecast period.

The awareness about operator safety while working in the industrial sector, especially in the manufacturing plants, is continuously increasing. The operators perform in extreme environmental conditions, combined with highly toxic gases and handles substances, which can adversely affect human health. Good quality industrial hand gloves are heat resistant and cut resistant. Such factors raise the demand for the product in the end-use industries to avoid injuries to operators.

Various government and non-government organizations, especially in the developed regions are working to encourage the worldwide use of industrial hand gloves in industrial applications. Additionally, in the developing regions, there is an increase in the average expenditure of manufacturing companies, which is expected to enhance the demand for industrial hand gloves in the global market. An increase in awareness in the healthcare and automotive industries owing to better healthcare safety and higher hygiene standards along with the progressive healthcare reforms, have been witnessed in the developing countries.

However, limited focus on operator safety, lack of awareness among the operators, lack of regulatory framework about workplace safety are the factors that limit the safety awareness in developing regions, such as Asia-Pacific and the Middle East & Africa. Therefore, the governments in the developing countries are striving to shift their focus on decreasing the industrial accidents, which is expected to increase the demand for industrial hand gloves during the forecast period. Thus, the implementation of government regulations and promotional activities for workers safety, are expected to open opportunities to invest in the production and distribution of industrial hand gloves in the developing countries during the forecast period.

Automation has the potential to transform the structure of the labor force and change the structure of an entire industry. Increase in automation across industries, such as retail, healthcare, automotive, and chemical is expected to be a major restraint to the demand and sales of industrial hand gloves, as automation diminishes the need for the humans. This increased use of robotics in the manufacturing sector according to recent trends is expected to have an adverse impact on the growth and development of the industrial hand gloves market. For instance, in 2017, JD.com, a Chinese online shopping giant launched its fully automated warehouse equipped with advanced robotic technologies, which can handle more than 9,000 orders in the single frame of work. Moreover, in 2017, one of the leading electric vehicle manufacturers Tesla Inc. unveiled the fully automated plant for the production and handling of vehicles.

As per the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies survey in 2017, it is estimated that 94% of the food packaging operations are automated and nearly one-third of companies are equipped with automated technologies in the developed countries. Primarily automation is adopted in the manufacture of vehicles, operating surgeries, manufacturing components and parts, and chemical handling. The end-use groups of industrial hand gloves are primarily in various industries, such as healthcare, automotive, chemical, construction, railway, and defense. Hence, the increase in automation, across industries is expected to affect employment, which further restrains the demand and sales for industrial hand gloves for the workforce safety during the forecast period. Thus, the impact of reduction in employment due to automation opportunities, is expected to shift from low to moderate over the forecast period.

The presence of various online retailers and manufacturers in the aftermarket has led to the easy availability of industrial hand gloves. Amazon and Alibaba are few of the major online retailers for the sales of industrial equipment, such as industrial hand gloves. In the global industrial hand gloves market, there is a wide presence of aftermarket companies, who widely make availability of industrial hand gloves in the global market through online retailers. Thus, the original equipment (OE) manufacturers and aftermarket are widely dependent on the online distributors and aftermarket sales. For instance, in 2018, Ansell Ltd is recognized for offering industrial hand gloves under one of its key business segments that caters to the aftermarket demand.

The limited implementation of government regulations for workers safety at the ground level, in developing countries, such as China and India are one of the major factors to leading the availability of local and inexpensive products. Such developing countries have a wide presence of unauthorized manufacturers, who make the authorized products available at the global level and hamper the market size of the global industrial hand gloves market. Hence, the availability of local and inexpensive products from the unorganized aftermarket and unauthorized manufacturers, is one of the major challenges to the growth of the global industrial hand gloves market.