Effective March 2016, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) adopted a revised testing standard for rating hand protection against cut risks.
The updated test method regulations standardized the process, ensuring predictability and consistency across the hand protection industry. The current standard may help to alleviate concerns of under-performing PPE across the industry.
ANSI Cut Level | HAZARDS |
A1 | Assembly, Warehouse, Material Handling |
A2 | Automotive, Packaging, Metal Handling |
A3 | Construction, Automotive Assembly |
A4 | Glass Handling, HVAC, Machining, Metal Fabrication |
A5 | Appliance Manufacturing, Glass Handling, HVAC |
A6 | Metal Stamping and Fabrication, Electrical, Construction |
A7 | Aerospace, Window Manufacturing, Recycling |
A8 | Very high cut risks, Aerospace, Recycling |
A9 | Highest cut risks |
Hand injuries are not only more common, but require a longer average recovery time than all other injury types combined.
In 1997 the first cut resistant standard, ASTM F1790, is introduced for hand protection. It used a CPPT machine. The standard is revised in 2005, using a TDM-100 machine approved to use in addition to CPPT machine. The standard is revised again in 2014, due to consistency issues between test results. In 2016, the newest standard, ASTM F2992-15, is adopted by ANSI/ISEA that only uses the TDM-100 machine