How to Ensure Toe Protection on Your Job Site?

Wondering, how you can keep your toe safe while at the work site? In simple terms, using Industrial Safety Shoes is your way to go. The safety shoes are designed to cater to the needs of a specific user. These ensure that your feet are safe when you are out their working. Depending upon the industry you work in, you’ll need different types of safety shoes to ensure that your feet stay protected. For instance, the choice of safety shoes for an aviation industry will be very different from the pair for the workers engaged in the chemical industry. However, irrespective of the industry you work in, the safety toe options are mandatory. Now, the fact of the matter is, how do you pick which safety toe option is most ideal for you? We have here, come up with some easy options that will help you decide and further select the most perfect option, based on your needs.

Steel Toe Caps

Think of a really heavy thing falling straight on your foot? Ouch! That did hurt, right? Yes! So, in order to keep you protected from this pain, the steel toe is the ideal Safety Equipment. This safety shoe has indeed been the ultimate pick from the falling objects and does a great job at protecting your feet from getting hurt or injured. However, in case you are seeking for an option which is lighter in weight, you really don’t have to look further as we have it here for you.   

Alloy Toe Caps

If not stronger than the steel toe caps, the alloy toe caps are just as strong as the former. It on the other hand is fairly lighter than the steel shoe. So, it can be a great pick for you to keep yourself protected from the falling objects yet reduce the overall foot fatigue. If this doesn’t convince you either, we have another option to help you keep your toe protected at the job site.

Non-Metallic Toe Caps

The Non-Metallic Toe Caps is another lighter yet a more comfortable option for you. This safety shoe uses the non metallic toe and hence are very heat and cold resistant, which makes a huge difference in ensuring safety at the work site. 

We hope this does help you pick the desired pair of safety shoes for your workplace. Safety shoes are easy to find. You can either get Safety Shoes online or buy it from a regular industry protection store. If you have any queries regarding the safety shoes, do let us know in the comment box below.

Safety Shoes-The First Line Of Defense against Foot Injuries

Industrial workers engaged in industries such as petrochemicals and oil & gas are exposed to the dangers of accidents of accidents on a daily basis. As an operations manager, your main aim is to ensure a high level of efficiency of productivity without exposing your workers to any type of dangers. Safety shoes are one of the most primary items that they will require staying on the move while working in oil excavation sites and refineries. Aware of the challenges & myths faced by industrial workers, safety shoes manufacturers across different parts of the world have come up with many new characteristics to meet the needs of buyers.

Keeping the hot and humid conditions in which technicians and engineers work, pioneers in the safety products industry have equipped their shoes with comfortable fabric linings to make them sweat and odour free. In addition to this feature, Allen Cooper safety shoes come with nail guard anti-perforation mid-sole. They also feature a single density PU outsole, molded in-sock which offers a high level of convenience. The out sole of these footwear has anti-static, anti-slip, oil and heat resistant properties. The pairs have a Moccasin design and ensure a high level of agility in challenging working conditions.

But for first time buyers, selecting safety shoes can be a bit of a challenge at the initial stage. If you are one of them, then electricity compliance would be one of the most important factors that you will need to concentrate upon. There is always a high risk of workers getting exposed to electrical currents at the excavation sites or in refineries. Therefore, you need to look for boots that comply with the latest ISI standards and can offer protection to high voltage, open electric currents to your personnel at work.

Metatarsal injuries are some of the most common foot injuries that industrial workers suffer from. The recovery process in case of such injuries is quite time-consuming. Shoes that come with steel toes do not offer metatarsal protection. Therefore, you will need to look for a pair which can offer protection to this part of the user’s body. A number of safety shoes available online come with a shield-like feature that offers a composite toe and extends to the top of the instep. As a result, the user can be safe from any impact felt on his foot while he is on the move.

Check whether the instep has a proper fitting or not. It should be too tight or loose. Pairs that come with loose insteps cause excessive slipping on the heel. Doing so will also ensure that your workers do not experience heel and toe pan which they normally doing while wearing shoes with tight insteps. You will need to take into account the different widths available to select a shoe with the perfect fitting instep. At the initial stage, users are likely to experience slight slippage in the heel area. But it will subside with time and disappear completely.

What Are The Standards In Personal Protection Equipment?

Personal Protection Equipment provides workers protection from the dangers they face in the line of work. It is mandated by law that every employer should provide these devices to their employees if their job involves risk of injury. Within PPE there are several categories:

• Skin protection
• Head protection
• Leg protection
• Eye and face protection
• Hearing protection
• Respiratory protection

Standards in Personal Protection Equipment

Standards in personal protection equipment are there to ensure that the equipment passes several tests before making it into market. In India, govt insists that PPE should meet certain criteria regarding quality. They are:

• Providing full protection: The device in question should provide complete protection from the danger.
• The product should be made of material that can withstand the danger.

PPE should be selected after considering the severity of the danger involved in the job. The nature of the work and the type of harmful substance should be thoroughly considered before selecting the product.

Categories

PPE can be divided into two categories

1. Non-respiratory: Non-respiratory PPE include safety helmets, safety jackets, safety shoes, safety hand gloves and safety spectacles. These products protect different parts of the human body.
2. Respiratory: These include PPE used for protecting someone from inhaling contaminated air. Respiratory masks are included here.

Standards in Head Protection

 

Head protection is the backbone of PPE. There are four classes of safety helmets.

• Class A: Helmets in this category do not provide much safety against electricity.
• Class B: Head protection equipment belonging to this class offer high voltage resistance.
• Class C: These helmets do not offer voltage protection.
• Class D: Protection in firefighting is limited.

Helmets used for scooter and bike riding are called crash helmets and their standards is IS 4151-1993, while the industrial safety helmets come under IS 2925-1984. Standard for firemen’s helmet is IS 2745-1983.
Safety shoes

Safety shoes are the next most important PPE. These protective shoes have steel reinforcement around the toe area, so that they provide protection against piercing and compression.

1. Standard for leather safety shoes and boots is IS: 1989 (Part-1 & 2)-1986. This protective gear should be ankle high. They also should have steel toe-cap.
2. Standard for leather boots for firemen is IS: 4128-1980.
3. Electrical Safety shoes: Though a standard for such safety shoes are being developed IS: 4770-1968 offers a standard for testing protective equipment for electrical work environments.

Body Protection

PPE under this category includes safety jacks and also complete head-to-toe protective suits. Such suits offer protection from a variety of dangers including exposure to harmful chemicals and radioactive materials.

Construction Safety Improves Productivity Excellence

Productivity in construction, metal, mining and other related industries will always be one of the major factors in assessing organization performance on a specific project. It is essential to lay the same type of focus to the provided safety related elements of undertaking. When this is done right, with the help of safety equipment like safety shoes, the two measures aren’t mutually exclusive.

Social, physical and mental conditions in workplaces and the sufficiency of safety and health measures are among the main indicators of obtaining better quality in work life. In this context, having different measures for health and safety like Karam Safety shoes and 3M goggles would be the general indicators to productivity improving techniques at workplaces is getting more popular in the recent years. The EANPC (European association of national productivity centers) productivity flower consists of various backing factors having notable effects on workplace productivity. All these factors can determine techniques and approaches like using safety helmets, and products for getting improvement in productivity. 


Research Findings- Productivity & Safety Tools

In a renowned study, (Lamm, Massey, Perry, 2006) it was found out that is substantial and compelling evidence that getting a healthy and safe environment for working has the potential to get better productivity in labor and in turn get higher profits. Lamm et al (2006) has also referred to the arguments by various commentators that gains in productivity often come at the expense of health and safety of the workers. Businesses generally strive to get more productivity and by following better safety measures like wearing safety goggles, they are driving their staff to work harder and for longer with better utilization sometimes in extremely hazardous conditions and only implement safety and health measures like using 3M helmets for keeping costs of compensation low (Massey and Perry, 2006; Quinlan and Mayhew, 1999; Dorman 2000; Quinlan 2001). As noted by James (2006), Lamm et al (2006) it is observed that while risk exposure to related machinery has been significantly reduced by wearing safety jackets and safetygloves, various other risks associated with increase in productivity are on rise. 

The research (Lamm et al (2006)) also speaks about efforts for getting productivity increase through occupational health and safety can lead to contradictory results and also points out literature gaps that while no illnesses and occupational injuries have impact on losses suffered in productivity, it isn’t clear whether or not reducing illnesses and injuries will automatically affect gains in productivity.

When talking about work associated health issues, the figures have been even more staggering. No less than 8.6% of workers in EU-27 report problems that are related to health in the past 12 months (LFS data from 2007). This would approximately correspond to 23 million persons. Musculoskeletal issues were mostly reported as main issues related to work (60%), followed by depression, stress and anxiety (14%). 

About 62% of workers having work-related health issues at least stayed for a day in the past 12 months at home; 22% of persons were at leave at least for a month. The estimated figure for work related health issues were about 367 million calendar days of sick leaves for the year 2007. However, this doesn’t yet have 1.4 million people who never wish to work again due to these concerns.

In case the workplace doesn’t have any good measures for controlling safety system like suing respiratory protection mask and hearing protection, then there is ample of room for both safety and productivity to suffer. Avoiding such situation would be the best thing to do and it becomes possible by using Allen Cooper safety shoes with a lean and smart thinking approach for dealing with projects on a regular basis. 

With the key findings and figures, we can state that a bad work environment without proper safety would lead to hampered and restricted overall productivity. All issues found in the workplace can be tackled by using appropriate safety standards and PPE. 

3 Myths That 2017 Will Break About Safety Shoes

New Year for the industrial sector brings your ticket to achieving benefits and satisfaction from your factory jobs. While industrial operations also bring risks, we are endowed with safety features to protect your life and also enhance your work creativity. Especially after the recent fire accident in Sahibabad, workers must pay keen attention towards their safety. Consider the case of safety shoes for that matter: everyone knows how essential they are in ensuring an accident-immune environment, no matter what industry bracket you work for. Our in-house surveys, however, highlight a different issue altogether. Most of the workers do not prefer using safety shoes and for valid reasons.

Valid? Well, that is what they think their beliefs about safety shoes. Based on the responses provided by our long-loyal customers, one thing got clear: the average factory professional does not have adequate information about safety shoes. So here we are, entering 2017, discussing the top 3 myths about safety shoes that need be shattered. We have included the top three brands namely Bata, Allen Cooper and Karam safety shoes but similar features are found in other shoe brands such as Tiger safety shoes.

• Too Heavy Feet
  Quite understandable. One cannot wear some 10 lb accessory every day at work, But hey,  do you think safety shoes are heavy just because they are made of super-resistant metals? Not really! In general, safety shoes from Allen Cooper or Tiger safety shoes weigh not more than 45 grams (approx. 1.6 oz), which is no heavier than your wrist watch, or the Ray Ban goggles you wearing. Take it for a fact, safety shoes are always lighter than the average sports shoes. Add on to that the specially demanded foot and toe protection features so that the wearer need not risk his safety while climbing ladders, or walking on the moist (greasy ) surface.
• They get too hot or cold for feet
  That could be a problem, like literally, when the temperature rises, the feet would almost boil. But thank god, the safety shoes designed for high-end users like you do have insulating feature. Reversing the temperature effect, the Karam safety shoes make your feet cold in summer, and in winter? Warm, yeah you got it. Just ensure you wear the right type of shocks so that the felts inside the inner shoe can work at its best, Also, these shoes and their likes at Bata safety shoes collection are supported with steel cap protection, so that your toes feel the cushion comfort.
• Not stylish :(
  For years, Nikhil avoided using safety shoes, It didn’t appear stylish, and was a turn-off for his personality, he said. I agree. Young professionals like Nikhil prefer to look presentable, no matter what time of the day you wish to notice them. Imagine how surprised Nikhil can get after we tell them that Allen Cooper safety shoes can be a style mantra for smart professionals. Whether hiking boots, or jogging shoes, or even loafers, Allen Cooper safety shoes come in all trendy designs. As a matter of fact, 2017 is going to see the trend of making safety shoes as your fashion statement.

Having said that, it is however recommended to consult an expert salesman or your job-specific consultant to ensure you pick the right safety shoes for your work. Available at a reasonable price, these accessories are a must-have thing if you work in an infrastructure risking your body.