Page 16 - Occupational Health & Safety, September 2019

FOOT PROTECTION
Put Your Feet First
Don’t neglect your feet when choosing safety footwear.
BY SANDY LONGARZO
Safety boots have come a long way in the last few years, and the availability of choices in safety footwear is staggering. Safety boots can vary widely in quality and features. When considering safety footwear, certainly you want to consider the level of protection your boots are go- ing to provide given your work environment, but you also want to take into consideration the features they offer with regard to comfort and overall foot health.
Let’s face it, when you’re on the job, and potentially on your feet for hours at a time, you don’t want to be distracted by your feet. So, what do you want to con- sider when choosing safety footwear?
Certification
Certainly, one of the first things you want to look for is a boot that is certified to ASTM F2413 for toe protec- tion. Back in the day, there was ANSI Z41, but ASTM F2413 superseded that standard back in 2005. Most modern-day shoes are now certified to the ASTM standard. The most current edition is the ASTM F2413-2018 edition (meaning the edition was revised in 2018), replacing ASTM F2413-2011 edition. Since it takes a bit of time for manufacturers to go through a third-party certification process, especially when a new version of a standard comes out, boots certified to the new 2018 edition will just be hitting the market.
Boots can be certified just for the basic impact (I) and compression (C) for the toe caps, or manufactur- ers can choose to get additional optional certifications
as well. Optional add on certifications are metatarsal protection (Mt), Conductive protection (Cd), Electri- cal hazard protection (EH), Static Dissipative protec- tion (SD) and Puncture resistance (PR). All certified boots will have a combination of these abbreviations on the inside label of the boot, depending on what it is certified for.
Take into consideration what you need for work- ing at your particular job, such as the need for elec- trical hazard protection or puncture resistance in the sole. Bear in mind that electrical hazard protection and static dissipative features are mutually exclusive. A boot can only be one or the other, but not both. Think of it this way, one helps to prevent electricity from coming into the body (EH), the other helps to prevent you from emitting static electricity (SD). Boots that are certified conductive (Cd) are similar to static dissipative boots; conductive boots just “con- duct” the static electricity faster and more completely than static dissipative boots. Also be aware that in the case of EH rated boots, they are not meant to be the primary source of protection, but only a secondary source of protection.
Alignment and Support
Besides looking for footwear that is certified to the safety standard, other factors should come into play when deciding on your footwear because your feet are the foundation on which your body rests. The muscle chains that hold our body upright and permit us to
16 Occupational Health & Safety | SEPTEMBER 2019
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