Your feet are subject to many types of skin diseases, cuts, punctures, burns, sprains, and fractures. However, sharp or heavy objects falling on the foot are the primary source of foot injuries in the workplace. In one study, more than 75% of foot injuries suffered were of workers not wearing safety shoes or boots at the time of the incident.
Foot protection should not be used as a substitute for engineering, work practices, and/or administrative controls. Foot protection should be used in conjunction with these controls to provide for personal safety and health in the workplace.
Safety shoes come in many varieties to suit very specific industrial applications.
- Safety shoes – have toe guards that meet testing requirements found in the American Society of Testing Material (ASTM) F2413-05 consensus standard on protective footwear. Steel, reinforced plastic and hard rubber are used for safety toes, depending on their intended use.
- Electrical hazard shoes – offer protection against shock hazards from contact with exposed circuits. These shoes are most effective when they are dry and in good repair.
- Puncture resistant shoes – protect against hazards of stepping on sharp objects that can penetrate standard shoe soles. They are used primarily in construction work.
This list describes only a few of the many types of safety shoes available for a wide range of applications.
When selecting safety footwear, it is important that they meet OSHA requirements 1926.96. These standards set the requirements for safety shoes in the areas of impact, compression, conductivity, and puncture resistance performance. You always want to match the footwear to the job and its hazards.
