Page 28 - OHS, April 2020

FOOT PROTECTION
Trends in Industrial Footwear Protection
With evolving safety technologies come changes in foot protection. Here are four topics you don’t want to miss.
BY BRENT JENNINGS
Experts in the safety industry are constantly listening to customers, safety directors and industrial workers to understand and re- spond to concerns, needs and challenges sur-
rounding footwear in harsh and changing environ- ments. At the moment, there are four particular tends in footwear protection you won’t want to miss.
Metatarsal Protection
First, retailers and safety directors are reporting that more industries and companies are moving toward metatarsal protection in safety footwear requirements. This echoes feedback from site visits that accidents and injuries from falling objects or rolling dollies of- ten center on the top-of-the-foot (metatarsal) region instead of the toe region, where caps are more often regulated. The worker will believe that he or she is safe when, in fact, an object can absolutely hit the top of the foot and miss the toe cap. This can result in broken bones and deep bruises. Companies will spend money purchasing footwear for employees and still see insur- ance rates rise when injuries occur to the metatarsals even though the workers’ toes were protected.
However, workers often do not like to wear meta- tarsals, just as they often resist safety toe footwear, mostly citing a lack of comfort and weight. But with new advances in metatarsal protection technologies, met guards can often provide a cushioned massage foam feeling on top of the foot that will harden when a strong impact takes place, offering workers comfort- able protection. These technologies can save workers and their employees hundreds of thousands of dollars in hospital bills, out-of-work days or even more seri- ous life-altering consequences. Met guards now come in almost every shape, size, and product category.
Slip-Resistance Metrics
Second, there is a strong push toward an industry standardization on testing and metrics for slip-resis- tant footwear. The industry has long struggled with providing a clear method and measurement for work- ers and safety directors when it comes to slip resis- tance on a variety of surfaces. In current lab testing, squares of outsoles are cut and subjected to various surfaces while saturated in various chemicals, mois- tures and oils. New testing, under consideration from
24 Occupational Health & Safety | APRIL 2020
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