Person wearing Key-Rite insulated work gloves uses a keyboard.

KEY-RITE & TOUCH-RITE NIBS MAKE INSULATED WORK GLOVES WORK SMARTER

That tired old phrase, “work smarter, not harder,” is pretty solid advice, but hearing it said every day is still pretty annoying, right?

You know what else is annoying? Having to take off your insulated work gloves every two seconds while you’re trying to use a keypad or touchscreen in a freezing warehouse. Taking your freezer gloves off and putting them back on – over and over during a 10-hour shift – takes up valuable time and increases the risk of frostbite or other cold-related injuries.

What’s a cold storage manager to do to maintain productivity without compromising employee safety?

The answer is simple: work smarter (not harder!) with Key-Rite and Touch-Rite insulated work gloves from RefrigiWear.

When Temps Go Down, It’s Time to Glove Up

If you’re operating a cold chain facility that’s kept at freezing or subzero temperatures, you probably already know how the cold can negatively affect employee productivity. You’ve outfitted your team with the best insulated freezer workwear to protect them from extreme cold hazards like hypothermia and frostbite. And, it works!

But, you’ve noticed that employees who need to use keypads and touchscreens aren’t quite as productive and you can’t really explain why. We can.

It’s probably their gloves.

Person wearing Key-Rite insulated work gloves uses a handheld scanner keypad in a refrigerated warehouse.

Fingers, Forklifts & Frostbite

The human hand is incredibly vulnerable to cold. You’ve done the right thing by providing insulated freezer gloves. The problem is that the insulation makes the glove so thick that they can’t quickly input data on keypads with accuracy and they likely can’t use touchscreens at all.

To do their best work, your employees move slowly to input data correctly; or worse, they remove their insulated work gloves to use the keypad or touchscreen. That isn’t just bad for productivity—it’s also is a serious safety concern in below-freezing conditions.


After just a few minutes of exposure to extreme cold temperatures, like the inside of an industrial freezer, the body begins to horde warmth to protect the organs in the core by reducing blood flow to the extremities – the hands and feet.

Without a fresh and warm blood supply to the hands, you lose sensation in the fingertip, it becomes painful to move the fingers and frostbit can set in quickly. Do you really want an employee with numb hands driving a forklift or keying in order data?

We didn’t think so.

Choose Key-Rite Work Gloves for Data Entry

Some insulated work gloves make entering data using keypads or pressure-sensitive screens nearly impossible. RefrigWear freezer work gloves with our exclusive Key-Rite Nib makes it possible to use keypads and pressure-sensitive screens quickly and accurately.

RefrigiWear installs Key-Rite Nibs on our work gloves in our U.S.-based distribution center, so you can choose which hand and finger (or fingers) you’d like the nib on.

Got a lefty who needs the Key-Rite Nib on their left index finger? Done.

Have crew that uses full keyboards in the freezer that could use them on every finger? We can do that, too.

Adding Key-Rite Nibs to RefrigiWear insulated gloves doesn’t compromise the warmth of the glove. The Key-Rite Nib ensures that your employees will keep their gloves on and that their productivity remains high.

Person wearing Key-Rite insulated glove works in a refrigerated warehouse.

Key-Rite Nibs are available on:

Choose Touch-Rite Work Gloves for Touchscreens

Employees using touchscreens often can’t have their gloves on at all. Or the touchscreen capability on their insulated glove is a little too finicky for them to be able to work quickly. These workers face similar issues with accuracy when they need to use a keypad.

RefrigiWear Touch-Rite Nibs add both touchscreen and keypad capability to two of our most popular freezer gloves, so data entry doesn’t have to slow down or be done unsafely. The nibs are attached to the right index finger. Touch-Rite nibs screw off the fingertip of the glove for easy replacement, if needed.

Replacement nibs are sold in packs of 10, so there’s no worry about losing functionality if a nib is lost.

Touch-Rite Nibs are currently available on:

Person wearing Touch-Rite insulated work gloves uses a touchscreen handheld scanner.

Don’t have extreme temps to contend with but still want your employees to have protection and touchscreen functionality? Check out our full range of touchscreen capable gloves.

Shop Insulated Work Gloves

We get it. Your team wants to work quickly, but they should have to sacrifice a finger to frostbite just to get the job done.

Shop insulated freezer gloves with the Key-Rite and Touch-Rite Nibs, or explore the full line of RefrigiWear leather work gloves, impact protection gloves and insulated mitts. Please contact the RefrigiWear customer service team at 800-645-3744 if you need help selecting the right insulated work gloves for your job or environment.

Last Modified: 16 May, 2023