subject: Reduce Work-related Foot Injury With Safety Boots [print this page] It is crucially important to wear safety boots in the industrial workplace in order to avoid serious foot injury. It is thought that almost a quarter of all disability claims internationally result from foot injury. It is simple slips and trips that account for a large number of injuries in the industrial sector and this accounts for a number of sick days taken by employees every year. The cost of this to businesses is huge and can be simply eradicated by staff wearing suitable safety boots for their place of work. The UK among other countries has implemented strict policies which force people working in the industrial injury to wear the correct protective footwear in the workplace.
The effectiveness of such mandatory policies can be seen in the Canadian construction industry where foot injury has been reduced by a whopping 60% after these protective footwear measures were introduced - the figures speak for themselves!
Common foot injuries
Although simple slips and trips are by far the biggest cause of foot related injuries, there are a number of different sorts of foot injury which can be caused by staff failing to wear the correct footwear at work.
There lies the risk of suffering crushed feet or broken bones and these are often seen in construction, oil rig and fishing operations. Good quality safety boots can usually erase the risk of this occurring.
Any employee who works with equipment such as nails, wire and scrap metal is vulnerable to punctures to the soles of the feet, something which can be stopped with the right footwear.
Another common type of injury resulting from failure to wear safety boots at work is burning of the feet. Burns can result from chemical and molten splashes and are seen in the mining and manufacture of heavy metals and also the production of chemicals.
Electric shocks can result from static electricity or direct contact with the source. Construction workers or electricians who have failed to don protective safety boots are usually the unlucky victims in this case.
Which boots?
When deciding on the right sort of boots for yourself or your workforce, firstly make sure you are aware of the potential hazards in the workplace.
There is a huge range of safety boots which give guaranteed protection in the industrial and construction workplaces. Importantly, they also adhere to the European safety standards.
There are steel-toed boots which protect the tips of the feet, safety boots and shoes with impact protection, safety trainers with puncture protection and protective footwear with anti-static rubber soles.
There is a diverse and varied range on the market, examples of which are often affordable, comfortable, made from quality materials and above all provide important protection for the feet.
So to avoid injury to yourself or your staff (and absenteeism which can lose your company money) ensure you invest in a pair of quality safety boots for your team which can be found in numerous online stockists and retailers - it really is one of the best investments you and your company can make!
by: Graham Heap
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