Page 51 - OHS, September 2022

intelligence (AI) to prove a better fit— it’s a transformational innovation to buying footwear. And that technology has recently stepped into the wonderful world of work boots.
Forward-thinking safety footwear providers are now offering 3D foot scans to individual employees telling them everything they didn’t think they could know about their feet and body—degree of pronation, misalignment, weight distribution, pressure points, exact length, width, instep and arch height, girth of midfoot, and more—the best scanners providing 12 to 16 points of data.
It is All in the Data
The individual benefit of capturing all that personal foot data allows employees to address, prevent and alleviate foot and body pain issues so they can leave work every day just as healthy as they arrived.
In addition to 3D foot scanners, there are also online service platforms like True Fit that that can recommend a best fitting shoe based on a brand that the consumer already has in his/her closet that fits well. Say you have never purchased Brand A before; so, you don’t know how it fits, as all brands can undoubtedly fit different. Utilizing manufacturing design data of hundreds of brands with consumer feedback on how they fit, True Fit can tell you what size to wear in Brand A compared to what size you wear in Brand B.
By combining the personal consumer foot data captured from tens of millions of 3D foot scans with mountains of manufacturing design data and even bigger mountains of consumer feedback data, recommending the best fitting boot to buy or order is as accurate as it has ever been.
While this data will undoubtedly be used to improve and transform product development of all footwear on the market, a safety footwear provider can also utilize it to improve their work boot online shopping experience by recommending a top selection of best fitting styles based on that individuals foot data. Since the shoe will fit the first time, this will reduce your return rate.
When the Work Shoe Fits
The Cinderella-inspired idiom of “if the shoe fits” may sometimes have a negative implication. For example: Company
X allows their employees to buy safety footwear wherever and whenever and now has reported injuries and significant lost time off resulting in low productivity.
That is not the negative implication of “if the shoes fits” you want anyone to say about your management performance or company. Implementing a way to ensure your employees are wearing the right fitting work boot is an added value to both your bottom line and workplace safety culture.
Partnering with the right safety footwear provider to help you control compliance, selection and ensure the right fit for all your employees will help you turn that “if” into a “when.” And that’s a win.
Janelle Kinnaird is the Director of Marketing for Lehigh CustomFit Managed Safety Footwear and Wellness Programs which is celebrating 100 years of providing innovative solutions.
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SEPTEMBER 2022 | Occupational Health & Safety 47
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