Cut Levels, Test Methods & AS/NZS Standards

Hand injuries are the most common type of work-related injuries among Australians. Therefore, gloves certified to the latest Australian and New Zealand standards provide employees and employers alike complete peace of mind, as the gloves supplied are of the highest quality and perform to their published mechanical performance claims.

So what is the latest standard?

AS/NZS 2161.3:2020 - Occupational Protective Gloves, Part 3: Protection Against Mechanical Risks is an Australia/New Zealand safety standard that adopted EN388:2016, A1:2018 in its entirety in November 2020. The latest standard uses two cut resistant methods: 

The existing 'Coup Test':

The ‘Coup Test’ was the only standard test method for measuring cut protection. A rotating blade moves horizontally across a fabric sample with a fixed force of 5 Newtons. The test is complete when the blade breaks through the fabric, giving the product an index value from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). The index value is calculated from the number of cycles required to cut through the fabric.

Because of rapidly evolving cut resistant fibre technology, the ‘Coup Test’ has limitations in producing accurate results due to the blunting effect on the blades. It can also be argued that the test does not effectively represent real-life cut scenarios. For this reason, the new standard, AS/NZS 2161.3:2020 was updated to include a new test, EN ISO 13997.

The latest EN ISO 13997 Cut Test:

The EN ISO 13997 Cut Resistance Testing is designed to represent the real-life cut risk experienced in the workplace by using the TDM-100 test method. A straight blade runs across a fabric sample from a glove over a 20mm travel distance. The weight is increased under specified loads until a cut-through occurs. The test will automatically conclude when the blade comes into contact with the conductive strip underneath the fabric. At this point, the glove is awarded a rating from A (lowest) to F (highest). The new test method will provide an accurate protection rating for gloves with a higher risk of cut injuries.

Choosing the proper hand protection is crucial in providing the best defence against workplace hand injuries. The Graphex® range of cut gloves offers the highest cut protection levels available, and we are happy to demonstrate this to you. Using a cut machine similar to the TDM-100 machine used by certified laboratories to conduct EN ISO 13997 cut tests, we can visit your workplace to demonstrate how Graphex® performs against other gloves.

To request a cut demonstration, please email enquiries@graphexgloves.com