Page 36 - OHS, October 2020

PPE: FOOT PROTECTION
Choosing the Right Safety Shoe for Your Industry
There are several opportunities for injury if a worker does not feel supported by their footwear.
BY JANE GONDA
In contrast to jobs in the construction industry, where work often takes place outdoors, there are plenty of employees in that generally work indoors in large warehouses or production halls
with plain floors that form their workplace.
On average, it can be assumed that a warehouse clerk covers about 20,000 steps per day. Depending on individual body size and stride length, this corresponds to a distance of nine to 12 miles, or almost a half marathon per day. It is obvious that such an activity tires the muscles and strains the joints and ligaments. Especially if the footwear does not provide
sufficient support.
Why Protect the Foot?
Other than our hands, our feet can be our most used tools with workers and employees on their feet all day long. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are over 45,000 foot injuries each year that lead to days away from work.1 These injuries can be moderate, such as blisters, or more severe, resulting
in chronic pain for workers to manage while on the job. Foot injuries can also lead to pain in the legs and back as well.
Alternative issues that are often related to foot injuries are slips, trips and falls, which make up over 240,000 injuries in the workforce.2 If a worker does not have the correct safety shoe on, it could lead to a slip or trip resulting in much more severe injuries, or even death.
Other reasons to protect the foot include employee comfort level and attitude. If the worker is free of foot pain because they are wearing a correct fitting shoe, they are more likely to be fully engaged with their tasks, stay comfortable all day long and more likely to have a better attitude with leaders and coworkers.
Standards to Keep in Mind
When choosing a safety shoe, there are standards to keep in mind to find the correct shoe and stay compliant. OSHA has a federal regulation, 29 CFR 1910.136 that clearly states, “The employer shall ensure that each affected employee uses protective footwear when working in areas where there is a danger of foot injuries due to falling or rolling objects, or objects piercing the sole, or when the use of protective footwear will protect the affected employee from an electrical hazard, such as a static-discharge or electric-shock hazard, that remains after the employer takes other necessary protective measures.”
OSHA mandates PPE, but ASTM International is the organization that sets performance requirements for protective footwear in the United States. It is a requisite for safety footwear to comply with ASTM and each five years, committees review the standards to ensure they are comprehensive and up to date, revising if necessary.
The most current safety footwear standards include ASTM F2413-18, the Standard Specification for Performance Requirements for Protective Toe Cap Footwear and ASTM F412-18, the Standard Test Methods for Foot Protection.
The ASTM F2413-18 standard contains basic requirements to assess footwear including:
■ Impact resistance for the toe area.
■ Compression resistance for the toe area.
■ Metatarsal protection for the metatarsal bones
at the top of the foot.
■ Conductive properties to reduce static
electricity buildup and lower the possibility of ignition of explosives, volatile chemicals or fine particulates in the air.
32 Occupational Health & Safety | OCTOBER 2020
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