Safety footwear is a necessity in a large number of potentially dangerous professions. Following the introduction of increasingly strict health and safely laws in recent years, no one can set foot on an industrial or hazardous site without having the right protection for their feet. Luckily this growing need for safety boots and shoes in the workplace has created a booming commercial market providing those in need of such footwear with a great deal of choice.
When trying to choose the right pair for you, there will be a number of different factors to consider, and the important factors will vary depending on your specific line of work and what use you plan to make of your protective footwear. You need to look at what protection or combination of protective features each pair offers.
The main risks safety shoes and boots protect against are slips and contact with hard objects or dangerous liquids. You should consider whether you need shoes that prioritise a great deal of grip to help prevent falls or perhaps those that have a very hard sole to stop sharp objects penetrating them underneath. Alternatively, your line of work or hobby may steer you more towards footwear that stops contaminated, hazardous or very hot materials reaching your feet. For those working on industrial sites surrounded by heavy or sharp objects, the most important consideration when picking protective boots or shoes is finding ones that provide toe protection from heavy falling objects as well as stop possible penetration of sharp objects into the foot through the upper part of the shoe.
Some protective footwear will guard against most if not all of these dangers but others will prioritise one or a couple over the rest. You may not actually need a pair that protects against every hazard if there are many you are never likely to encounter, so the best way to find the perfect footwear for you is to consider exactly what you need the shoes for and then check what each pair has to offer before committing to a purchase.