Glove-Friendly Labels – Do You Need a Glove-Friendly Adhesive?

Do You Need Glove-Friendly Labels?

Many customers look for tacky, aggressive adhesives that feel “extra sticky” to solve tough label applications. These adhesives are popular on dirty, contaminated & uneven surfaces. They also adhere to low-surface-energy plastics that emit out-gassing. They bond very well, but they can be a pain to die cut and put into rolls. The adhesives are often so oozy that they make your fingers stick together like working with super glue when repairing a piece of cracked pottery.

In certain industries however—like healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and food manufacturing—there are safety requirements to limit the risk of contamination. This means that employees must wear plastic, nitrile, or latex rubber gloves at all times, including when they’re applying labels. If they’re working with overly sticky adhesives, gloves are apt to tear and their fingertips could stick together. If they’re working with a paper label, there’s even higher odds of tearing the label. This is frustrating, and it is unacceptable. Especially if you have to process hundreds of test tubes or beverage bottles a day.