TYPES OF SAFETY FOOTWEAR FOR DIFFERENT TASKS

Safety footwear is necessary for keeping workers’ feet safe and healthy. It is vital to know the different types of safety footwear available for varying work environments and how they can protect your employees’ feet, and prevent foot pain by wearing safety boots. To avoid foot injuries, there has been a strong demand for safety footwear, and the market provides an array of options that can sometimes make it difficult to choose the right pair of safety footwear for workers.

Employees will be wearing safety footwear for the most part of their work shifts. For this reason it is critical to choose a safety shoe in the UAE that is comfortable and supportive. Durability is an important aspect to consider when choosing safety footwear that provides footwear protection in Dubai.

Let us take a look at some of the factors in choosing safety footwear:

1. Working surface/floor: In working conditions that have a smooth, wet, or slippery walking surface, safety footwear with anti-skid soles are required to attain balance on polished, wet or oily floors. Look for ankle-high safety footwear that will protect your workers’ ankles from sprains on uneven surfaces like milling sites. Make sure the walking surfaces are kept in good condition.
2. Protruding Surfaces: Men’s safety footwear with thick, puncture-resistant soles are essential in areas where sharp-pointed objects such as nails or scrap metal are regularly found on the walking surface, such as workshops.
3. Falling objects: Steel toe boots are required at workplaces such as construction sites, where injuries from falling objects such as bricks or tools can occur.
4. Heavy Machinery: Steel toe boots should also be worn in industries with heavy rolling equipment such as forklifts or trollies, such as warehouses. They are also worn by workers at scrap yards and assembly plants that have mechanical equipment that performs punching and crushing processes.
5. Temperature: Thermal boots must be worn in work areas with excessively high temperatures, such as foundries, or extremely cold temperatures, such as refrigerated warehouses. These safety boots will help protect workers’ from burns and frostbite, mitigating any foot injuries due to adverse temperatures.
6. Electricity: Safety boots with non-conductive soles and heels must be used in environments that are exposed to electric current.
7. Chemical: Chemical-resistant safety footwear in Dubai must be worn in work situations where hazardous or corrosive compounds, such as bleach or acid, are used. To protect against inadvertent splashes, these boots are made to cover up to knees.
8. Biological: In damp or outdoor working settings, allergies, rashes, and germ proliferation can be common. Waterproof and chemical-resistant protective footwear is ideal for your workers in such conditions.

Rating

Safety footwear usually has a simple two or three-character designation that identifies the essential safety regulations for that product. Additional qualities may be indicated by the use of more codes or pictograms; typically, this begins with an S for 200 Joules (unit of energy) toe caps and less usually, a P for 100-Joule toe caps; additional properties may be indicated by the use of further codes or pictograms.

A 200-joule toe cap is a minimum requirement for safety footwear in the UAE. Penetration resistance (midsole protection), conductive, anti-static, insulated against heat or cold, energy absorption, outsole resistance to hot contact, and water resistance are some of the other features that may be included.

Further,

• HRO: heat contact resistant outsoles
• HI: heat-insulated soles
• CI: cold-insulated soles
• C: soles with an electrical resistance lower than 100kW
• CR: cut-resistant soles
• ESD: electrostatic dissipative footwear (EN ISO 61340-4-3:2001 norm)
• SRA: anti-slip soles on ceramic tile with dilute soap solution
• SRB: anti-slip soles on steel with glycerol
• SRC: anti-slip soles on ceramic tile with a dilute soap solution and steel with glycerol

Safety footwear for different work conditions

In all industries where there is a risk of a foot injury, safety footwear is compulsory to wear. You’ll need to figure out what kind of footwear your workers would need for the job:

• Indoor and outdoor employment, such as on construction sites and in mines, choose S3 footwear, or possibly S5 if a flooded environment is required.
• Generally, work in the agri-food industry is done indoors and in a dry atmosphere. If there is a risk of perforation of the soles, it is possible to upgrade to S1 safety footwear or S1P safety footwear. You may also need to supply anti-slip protection, such as SRA or SRB, or soles that are insulated against cold or heat, depending on the type of floor covering.
• Some laboratories, particularly those in the chemical sector, will require safe footwear, for example, to avoid risks associated with the goods used. If there is a chance of spraying, you can choose S1 or S2 footwear.
• S1 or S1P footwear are frequently used on construction sites to provide essential protection, but you must adjust the type of protection to your unique hazards.
• Protective footwear in the automobile industry is frequently required to fulfill specific risks, such as those associated with welding. You may, for example, look for S1 footwear that is also classed as HRO in this scenario.

Where to find safety footwear in the UAE?

SMB Trading is your solution for all kinds of safety footwear in Dubai. We distribute authentic and reliable quality PPE in the UAE and the whole of GCC. Find our address below and contact us Phone: +971 04 2243320. / 17 Al Burj St – Deira – Dubai, UAE. And visit our Website :- www.smbtrd.com