Where and When To Wear Steel Toe Shoes

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The right equipment is critical for creating a safe work environment, and steel toe shoes are an important part of your gear list. They are specifically designed to protect workers&#; feet from falling objects, compression and electrical hazards. In a workplace with lots of hazards, steel toe boots are a must. Here&#;s a look at the job environments that require this safety footwear.

Workplace Conditions That Warrant Steel Toe Shoes

Heavy Items

The most obvious workplace that calls for the protection of steel toes is one where workers are lifting and moving heavy items. Construction sites, warehouses and farms can all fall into this category. Whenever a person picks up a large item, there is a risk of it being dropped and landing on someone&#;s foot, potentially causing injury. Steel toe boots are strong protection because they can take the brunt of the impact, preventing the weight from landing on toes.

Large, Movable Machinery

Another space where protective footwear is important is areas where large machines are used and moved. A heavy machine can easily break bones if it accidentally rolls over an unprotected foot. Steel toe shoes can prevent such injury. Consider requiring them in factories, assembly areas and auto repair shops.

Sharp Materials or Tools

Some jobs call for people to work with potentially dangerous objects, such as sharp tools or live wires. These create a big risk for safety if something should fall and hit a worker&#;s foot. Electricians must make sure everyone is protected with durable, non-conductive steel toe boots to reduce the risks of cuts or electrical shocks.

Slippery Floors

Most styles of steel toe footwear are also designed with sturdy treads providing strong traction. This makes them good choices for job sites that tend to have wet or slippery floors, as well as workplaces with uneven terrain. Anyone working with oil or chemicals that could spill should wear protective footwear. Landscapers, carpenters and mine workers should also put on boots to have better footing as they complete their tasks.

Designating Areas Where PPE Is Required

Once you identify which areas of your operation pose the most risk to workers, you should require all employees to wear steel toe boots in those spaces. Start by educating all managers and workers about the enhanced safety rules and explaining why they are important.

You can make this more effective by installing foot PPE safety signs that let people know what safety gear they need to enter a given space &#; including foot PPE. For example, you can post a safety glasses, steel toe boots and hard hats required sign to notify workers what PPE is required to enter the main work area of a manufacturing plant. Post these signs at each entrance and exit and throughout the space so everyone is well-informed about PPE requirements.

Foot PPE Safety Signs:

Risks of Not Wearing Steel Toe Shoes

Not wearing steel toe footwear in high-risk workplaces can lead to serious foot injuries and even fatalities. Workers will be at a disadvantage every time they step into your facility if they don&#;t have the proper equipment. Here are some of the risks of not wearing foot PPE in hazardous locations.

Foot Injuries

Foot injuries are common in high-risk workplaces. They can happen in an instant. All it takes is for someone to lose their grip on a heavy item or sharp object, or step into the path of a large machine being moved. A serious foot injury can potentially lead to permanent disability.

Slips and Falls

Slips and falls are another common incident, especially on wet and uneven surfaces. Not wearing protective footwear can increase the risk of tripping and lead to head injuries and broken bones.

Electrical Hazards

Electricians and construction workers often are exposed to electrical hazards. Failing to wear sturdy footwear with non-conductive soles can increase the risk of electrical shocks.

Chemical Exposure

Manufacturing and automotive workers are routinely exposed to various chemicals. Shoes built with steel are better at preventing spilled chemicals from seeping into the shoe and reaching the skin.

Reduced Productivity

Foot injuries reduce productivity and increase costs for employers, while reducing income for workers. Using the correct safety gear allows workers to approach projects confidently and efficiently.

Require Steel Toe Shoes To Increase Safety

Safety needs to be a shared goal for your entire organization, and that includes making sure everyone has the right protective equipment. If your workplace presents foot hazards, consider which locations call for steel toe shoes and give your workers the protection they need to navigate safely.

PPE Resources

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What are Safety Shoes and When Do You Need Them?

August 06 , by Ed Stone, 6 min reading time

Prior to the 20th century, it was significantly cheaper to replace an employed worker than to implement safety measures. With the rise of the Industrial Revolution came a massive influx of workers and companies that depended on these new measures to complete daily functions successfully. It also introduced workers&#; unions and safety requirements we still have today. Thanks to these safety standards, workers in construction, transportation, manufacturing, and even food and retail are required to wear a comfortable safety shoe daily. Currently, Safety shoes and work safety boots are available in a variety of styles including women's safety boots and men's steel toe shoes, slip-on work boots, lace ups, steel toe, composite toe work shoes, moc toe and safety sneakers. In this article, we will explain where this proper footwear started, what makes a safety shoe, and the different types of safety shoes and why they are worn.

Why worry about workers&#; footwear?

When you think of work injuries, foot injuries may not be high on your list of worries, but they are more common than you&#;d think. At least 60,000 foot injuries lead to missed workdays every year. The cost of this to companies can reach over $950 million dollars. When you measure the cost of these injuries with the cost of requiring your workers to wear some form of safety work boot, you can see the savings.

Origin of safety shoes

With an understanding of the reasons behind requiring safety shoes in any given work environment, you may be curious about the origins of the safety work boot concept. The first protective shoe that employed workers wore were called Sabots. These had a simple, hollowed-out wooden shoe design that kept French and British farmers&#; feet safe from falling objects.This was a common footwear choice until the Industrial Revolution when workers started throwing Sabots into machinery to stop production during protests.

In the s, industrial workplace safety issues were beginning to be addressed, and the Red Wing Shoes Company started to make a steel toe boot in Germany for workers and military officers not commissioned in wartime. Safety issues continued to take precedence after the war. In the s, the United States Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act to ensure safe and healthy work conditions for employees. This act included the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to enforce standards relating to workers&#; safety.

What qualifies as Safety Footwear?

Leading up to today&#;s modern safety footwear, men's and women's safety shoes were designed with only a safety toe. These were historically steel, but eventually included Aluminum Alloy, Composite Materials, and Carbon Fiber toe shoes. These composite toe vs steel toe shoes were examined and tested to follow standards set in place by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). As time went on, foot protection grew to mean protecting your toes, ankles, and feet from hazard and injury. This led to safety boot standards being newly regulated by the American Standards for Testing and Materials (ASTM), with areas of concern growing to include falling objects, stepping on sharp objects, heat and cold, wet and slippery surfaces, and exposure to corrosive chemicals. As many job sites contain risks of slipping and falling due to slick surfaces, we offer a broad collection of slip-resistant protective shoe options for men and women to help mitigate the chances of foot injury.

OSHA and ASTM standards now cover performance requirements, testing standards, and standard labeling. As every work environment is different, the responsibility to require specific safety shoes falls on employers. OSHA requires employers to assess the workplace to determine hazards that may necessitate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Failure to comply with OSHA requirements can result in thousands of dollars of fines.

Different types of safety shoes and why they&#;re worn for added foot protection

According to OSHA standard .132 (d)(1), employers must assess the workplace to determine if hazards necessitate PPE. Protective footwear must be used when employees are in danger of foot injuries due to falling or rolling objects, objects piercing the sole, or where employees' feet are exposed to electrical hazards according to OSHA standard 29CFR .156 (a).

The following footwear performance requirements are addressed in the ASTM F standard:

• Impact and Compression resistance doesn&#;t require a steel toe boot, but a protective toe cap has to be a permanent part of the shoe or safety boot to protect the foot from falling objects or crushing from heavy rolling objects.
• Metatarsal protection reduces the chance of injury to the top of the foot. Proper footwear should be designed to cover the toe and the metatarsal bone area between the ankle and toes.
• Electric Shock resistance: An EH rated shoe protects the wearer from shock when standing during an application of 18,000 volts at 60 hertz for one minute with no current flow or leakage in excess of 3 milliamperes under dry conditions.
• Puncture/Penetration resistance requires a permanent plate to be positioned between the insole and outsole of the safety footwear to resist penetration from sharp objects like nails and glass.
• Chainsaw cut resistance protects the foot between the toe and lower leg when operating a chainsaw.
• Static Dissipative rates the shoe&#;s ability to safely conduct any buildup of static electricity through the sole and into the floor.
• Dielectric insulation footwear is designed to provide insulation if accidental contact is made with conductors or circuits.

The responsibility for protective footwear lies mainly with the employer, but employees should be informed about their safety shoe options and when safety shoes are required. We hope this article helped explain the history and reasons for protective safety shoes and what types of shoes there are available.

At Boot World, we offer several brands and styles like men&#;s Caterpillar work boots and CAT women&#;s work boot styles along with Wolverine work boots, Timberland PRO boots, and KEEN Utility boots. Have more questions about safety footwear? Visit one of Boot Word&#;s locations today to get expert advice and input!

Reviewed By:

Ed Stone brings over 45 years of footwear knowledge and passion to his role as President of Boot World, a family-owned company and an industry leader in safety and occupational footwear. A second generation "shoe dog&#; Ed's footwear knowledge is unparalleled, serving as an informal advisor for some of the worlds largest footwear brands including Wolverine, Timberland PRO, and Reebok Works.

A lifelong Southern California resident, and ardent conservationist, Ed enjoys hiking and open water swimming.

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