Foot Protection
Date Posted: 04/24/2023
Protective footwear worn on construction sites is designed to protect your feet from physical hazards such as falling objects, punctures through the soles of the footwear, extremely hot or cold temperatures, slippery surfaces, corrosive chemicals, and general foot fatigue. In addition, foot fatigue can lead to other types of accidents. Specialized protective safety footwear is classified according to its ability to meet minimum compression and impact test requirements. These requirements and testing procedures are found in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).
When do you Need to Wear Foot Protection in Construction?
According to WAC 296-155-212, “Substantial footwear, made of leather or other equally firm material, must be worn by employees in any occupation in which there is a danger of injury to the feet through falling or moving objects, or from burning, scalding, cutting, penetration, or like hazard.” Below is an overview of the potential hazards that commonly require the use of foot protection:
Heavy materials cut with a saw, shear, or cutting torch can fall and strike your foot.
Handling heavy tools or building materials easily dropped or knocked over by a worker, such as when working with or around bricks, blocks, steel components, and other similar building materials, can fall and strike your foot.
Rolling objects such as heavy pipes, metal parts, and mobile equipment such as wheeled carts, forklifts, and mobile elevated work platforms (MEWP) can roll over or onto your foot, causing injury.
Sharp objects on walking surfaces, such as nails, sharp rebar, shards of broken glass, or sharp pieces of metal, can pierce the soles or side of your shoe or boot.
Toxic chemicals that could saturate your footwear can be absorbed through your skin.
Working around energized electrical lines and equipment and exposing workers to electrical currents can travel through footwear with conductive soles.
What Types of Protective Footwear Should I Select for My Work?
Thousands of work-related injuries occur yearly that could have been prevented with the right protective foot gear. Safety work boots are tested according to ASTM 2413 standards for impact and compression safety-toe resistance, metatarsal protection, conductivity resistance, electrical shock resistance, static dissipative properties, and puncture resistance. Below is a guide to help understand what exactly ASTM tested/rated is and how safety footwear is tested.
Impact and Compression Resistance
A test is performed by dropping a 50-pound weight from a predetermined height (1.5 feet) at a designated speed. The I/75 C/75 rated footwear will protect the wearer’s toes from an impact of up to 75-foot pounds and compressive loads of up to 2,500 pounds.
Metatarsal (Mt) Protection
Metatarsal protection is designed to prevent or reduce injuries when the toe and metatarsal areas of the foot are exposed to hazards. The metatarsal test is performed by dropping a 50-pound weighted bar 1.5 feet onto the metatarsal guard. (75 foot-pounds of impact energy.) The impact energy is the same as the safety-toe impact.
Electric Shock Resistant Protection (EH)
EH, protective footwear is designed to reduce the hazards of accidental contact with live electrical circuits. It is only meant to be secondary protection from electrical hazard environments. The outer surface of the sole and heel shouldn’t be penetrated by any electrically conductive component, like nails in the heel. EH, shock-resistant footwear must be capable of withstanding the application of 18,000 volts at 60 Hz for 1 minute with no current flow or leakage of more than 1.0 milliampere.
Sole Puncture Resistant Footwear (PR)
Puncture-resistant footwear includes a sole puncture-resistant device (usually below the insole) which reduces the possibility of puncture wounds to the bottom of the feet. In addition, PR footwear should withstand a minimum nail penetration force of 270 pounds.
How Do you Read an ASTM Label?
When Should I Replace my Protective Footwear?
General Wear and Tear
Replace your boots if any protective components, such as steel or composite toes or midsoles, show through the leather/outer material.
Dented / Damaged Steel Toe
Replace your boots if the steel toe becomes dented and will not spring back.
Composite Toe or Midsole Damage
Composite toes and midsoles are less likely to show physical damage than shoes with steel parts. However, replace your boots if they have taken a potentially damaging shock or significant crush event.
Separation of Parts or Seams
Replace your boots if any of the seams separate. Also, replace boots if the soles begin to separate from the body of the boot.
Worn Treads
Replace your boots if the treads are worn down, or the soles frequently slide or slip.
Leakage
Replace your boots if water can get inside the boot.
Tilting
When you place your boots upright on a flat surface, they should be flat on the floor. If they tilt inward or outward, the shoe is not keeping your step or body in alignment and should be replaced.
Shoe Interiors
Protective shoes should fit snugly around the heel and ankle when laced (protective footwear should always be laced up entirely). Boots should have ample toe room. Footwear that is too tight will not stretch with wear. Consider using shock-absorbing insoles where the job requires walking or standing on hard floors for extended periods.
References
ANSI Z41.1 – 1967
ASTM F2413-18
