If you’re responsible for procuring personal protective equipment (PPE) for your workplace, you know the importance of purchasing the best quality products. Unfortunately, the pandemic has made your job much harder. The PPE shortage has opened the door for poor quality and disreputable suppliers to the industry that have put inferior—and even dangerous—PPE products on the market.
Low-quality gloves are dangerous for both healthcare workers and patients. Gloves made of cheap materials are more likely to rip or tear, allowing for the spread of infectious agents between the healthcare provider and patient.
Budget considerations are always an incentive for going with the lowest bidder. But there are hidden costs of purchasing cheap, low-quality, disposable gloves:
Low-quality PPE is on the market
Under normal circumstances, medical gloves are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A manufacturer cannot market their disposable medical gloves until receiving a pre-market clearance from the FDA, commonly known as a 510(k).
In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the FDA relaxed its enforcement policies to allow more PPE to enter the market quickly. Some groups—especially newcomers to the market—took advantage of this temporary flexibility. As a result, there are some products on the market that do not perform as well as PPE cleared through FDA's pre-market process.
How to verify a distributor is selling quality PPE products
Requesting proof of the manufacturer’s FDA clearance (in addition to FDA registration) is only a starting point for vetting the product—after all, FDA-cleared and approved products are recalled all the time. Here are some other suggestions to help protect your organization:
Ventyv® is your trusted source for PPE
Work with a distributor partner and manufacturer with a proven track record and decades of industry experience. Sri Trang USA is a member of the Sri Trang Group and the manufacturer of the Ventyv® brand of infection prevention products. We are an award-winning, global industry leader in disposable glove manufacturing with production lines that produce 35 billion disposable glove pieces annually. With delivery to more than 140 countries, we meet national quality standards worldwide.
Together, we can Outsmart Infection®. Please visit the Ventyv® website for information on our products and subscribe to our blog to stay current on industry news.