Has a safety boot saved you?

[epsilonGreedy]

The H&S rebel lurks within me so I thought I would rely on statistics instead.

 

Has a safety boot saved you from injury onsite anytime in the last five years?

[ToughButterCup]

My toes  on Saturday.

The bridge of my foot is still painful. Mending a broken sledge hammer shaft: the head fell off after I had ' mended ' it.

[Cpd]

When i was 17 i went to work with the worlds worst hangover, must have still been steaming but hay ho.... was a timber cutter so hanging on a chainsaw all day. Anyway at some point i was hacking away at the brash and noted some sparks, assumed it was a stone until i went to sharpen the saw and then i could see the damage to the steel toe cap of my boot !  Glad i still had the ability to put my ppe on before stumbling to work. Later on in life as a stone mason steel toe cap boots have saved both my feet and my workers feet on many occasions. 

[ToughButterCup]

9 hours ago, epsilonGreedy said:

The H&S rebel lurks within me[...]

 

You aren't thinking about not having some form of toe / foot protection are you now? 

[Ferdinand]

No, but robust shoes with thick soles have when I stood on a nail. In garden when it was being cleared out.

 

And similarly on a previous occasion 20+ years ago.

 

F

Edited March 28, 2018 by Ferdinand

[epsilonGreedy]

10 minutes ago, recoveringacademic said:

You aren't thinking about not having some form of toe / foot protection are you now?

 

 

I am weighing up the risk of stumbling and falling from height because some H&S prescribed armoured footwear deprives me of sensory feedback v. the risk of foot injury from wearing light trainers.

 

If someone can recommend site footwear that protects the foot but does not feature soles akin to hobnail boots then send me a clickable buy button.

[billt]

There's an enormous variety of safety footwear including shoes and trainers, see the Screwfix site for a confusion of choices. You don't have to use boots if you don't want to. The most recent pair I've bought are these https://www.screwfix.com/p/site-slate-safety-chukka-boots-black-size-9/59707.

They're quite light and comfortable, although the laces don't last long.

 

Not wearing safety shoes on site is pretty foolish.

[joe90]

I confess to buying boots but failed to wear them as they were so chunky I could not feel my feet and stumbled around a lot, settled for safety trainers which were great. I suppose once heavy stuff is finished it’s not an issue, currently ( at the painting stage) I am wearing my old slip on hush puppies

[ProDave]

9 hours ago, epsilonGreedy said:

The H&S rebel lurks within me so I thought I would rely on statistics instead.

 

Has a safety boot saved you from injury onsite anytime in the last five years?

On a former job I visited a factory regularly. Visitors had to wear steel toes and if you did not have your own, they provided a pair of very uncomfortable steel toed wellies.

 

So I got my company to buy me a pair of steel toed shoes for the next visit.  When I told my host at the factory my shoes were steel toed, he stamped on my foot to "check" I was telling the truth.

 

My boots on site have saved me many times from standing on a nail (steel insole) probably more  times than the steel roe caps have done anything.

[epsilonGreedy]

3 minutes ago, joe90 said:

I confess to buying boots but failed to wear them as they were so chunky I could not feel my feet and stumbled around a lot, settled for safety trainers which were great. I suppose once heavy stuff is finished it’s not an issue, currently ( at the painting stage) I am wearing my old slip on hush puppies

 

This illustrates a point I made earlier, regular trades will customize their safety kit for the risks they face. Ground workers will worry about nails, twisted ankles and falls into trenchwork, brickies face similar ground risks up to 5ft plus say caustic cement risks or loose clothing near a mixer then above 5ft they might adopt the concerns of a roofer. The hands-on self builder probably needs to vary their safety dress code as the build progresses.

[jack]

2 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

This illustrates a point I made earlier, regular trades will customize their safety kit for the risks they face. 

 

Or they could do like probably 90% of the trades we had onsite and refuse to use any form of PPE. I'd say well over half of the people we had onsite wore trainers. 

 

My worst memory was trying to hand a youngish guy a set of ear defenders and face mask while he used a petrol diamond saw to cut a load of blocks. He refused because they were "uncomfortable" and he didn't have that many to do. My ears were ringing just from the 10 seconds I was standing nearby waiting for him to finish a cut. He was cutting for 15 mins straight.

 

I can't comprehend people not being interested in their own health.

[joe90]

Not exactly PPE but comfortable

 

 

[ToughButterCup]

2 hours ago, epsilonGreedy said:

I am weighing up the risk of stumbling and falling from height because some H&S prescribed armoured footwear deprives me of sensory feedback v. the risk of foot injury from wearing light trainers.

If someone can recommend site footwear that protects the foot but does not feature soles akin to hobnail boots then send me a clickable buy button.

 

If you stumble, it's more likely to be because you are tired.

Years of training soldiers taught me that a stumble is the first sign of tiredness. They stumbled whether they were wearing boots or cross country-running shoes, on a mountainside or an assault course .  I live in the Lakes and when friends come to visit I used to (not so much now) take them up on the fells. A stumble is  always a cue to watch for the next one and a reason for increased caution.  

 

These trainers (clickable link here) are for me a sensible compromise. have a look at the Safety Rating too (in this case S3 WR SRC) .

Boots on their own won't cause a fall. They will hold your foot in place better during falling and on impact, though - as in slipping on wet ground and twisting on the way down.

 

The tipping point for me is the shoe / boots  weight and my knackered hip. The ones I have now are so light that I can wear them all day without needing some WD40 for the ball and socket joint at the top of my leg.

And just because I know you'll love this, here's the H&S guidance

[Stones]

I recall chopping logs for our WBS, swinging down I didn't get a clean hit, the axe slipped of the log and continued downwards until it made contact with the toe of my left foot.  Fortunately, I was wearing steel toe caps, so the only injury was to boot leather.  Don't think I picked up an axe again after that incident - invested in a log splitter.

[joe90]

27 minutes ago, Stones said:

I recall chopping logs for our WBS, swinging down I didn't get a clean hit, the axe slipped of the log and continued downwards until it made contact with the toe of my left foot.  Fortunately, I was wearing steel toe caps, so the only injury was to boot leather.  Don't think I picked up an axe again after that incident - invested in a log splitter.

 

A good example of the right kind of protective clothing for the right job ( I will remember this one when I chop logs).

[ProDave]

At a recent ceilidh in the village hall, one of the parents was notable by his absence.  He was apparently at A&E having missed with the axe and hit his foot (no steel toes) They were stitching his foot back together.

 

His wife has now vetoed his purchase of a chain saw.

[SteamyTea]

On 3/28/2018 at 11:26, recoveringacademic said:

If you stumble, it's more likely to be because you are tired.

Or an undiagnosed eye problem.

Or a botched operation on an eye that left me with permanent vertigo

[curlewhouse]

More times than I can recall. Ive dropped a block before on my toes been saved by the steel toecap, and saved stubbed toes when tripping or catching on things.  They also allow you to kick things with impunity ? .  Whilst my hard hat is still in its wrapper,  I definitely will replace my steel toecapped site boots with new steel toecap ones when they wear out