Field Measurements of Leakage Current in insulaing Gloves

The paper gives results from field measurements of leakage current from Class IV insulating gloves for a range of supply voltage up to 40 kV. The test set-up simulated a contact of an insulating glove with a line. The results have shown that the magnitude of the glove leakage current is dependent on how close is the work location to a ground such as a wood pole or a neutral wire. Also, the paper shows that a large increase in the glove leakage current can occur when a worker wearing insulating gloves stands on an insulating support and then the support is grounded. For example, at 9.6 kV the glove leakage current was measured at 220μ A when the mannequin representing a worker was placed on an insulating support, and 2,350μ or some ten times higher when the support was grounded. The test results have an important bearing on the safety of using insulating gloves during live line maintenance.