Electrical Hazard and Anti-Static Boots

Setting a place for worker safety begins from the ground up. It’s paramount for skilled workers to maintain footwear safety at all times. Just a single misstep can lead to all kinds of severe injuries, disabilities or worse. At the very least, it wastes time and harms your well-being. To get safety started on the right foot, you’ll need a comfortable and protective shoe.

Craftsmen are aware they need all the right tools to get the job done, and the same idea extends to shoes. In specific trades, particularly those that regularly work with electricity and similar hazards, it is important to acquire shoes that reduce the chance of electricity-related accidents at work.

Three Kinds of Safety Footwear

In all, there are three types of safety footwear one can purchase as far as electrical protection is concerned. Each kind of shoe serves its own special purpose.

Electrical hazard shoes: Rated as EH, these shoes are generally insulated to help ground the worker from electricity in the event that he should step on electrical equipment or a live circuit. In addition to this, such boots may come with composite or steel toes in order to extend safety to the toes.

It’s common to think metal in the shoes would be bad in an electrical environment, but it’s actually conductive only when touching other metals. Metal in boots are enveloped in non-conductive materials like rubber or leather. As such, it is perfectly safe to wear these kinds of boots in an area with live circuits around. Rubber outsoles are also a good idea, particularly those designed to be slip-free, as well as abrasion- and water-resistant.

Anti-static shoes: Boots classified as anti-static are made for workers who are in environments that must avoid static electricity. Such shoes are designed to dissipate the collection of static electricity from within the body while still providing some resistance to electrical hazards such as from live circuits. Typically, these kinds of boots might be classified with SD or ESD tags.

Conductive shoes: These types of shoes are designed to provide some protection in environments where accumulating static electricity is a hazard. Workers in these environments usually handle volatile, explosive materials. These shoes are made with cements and materials that have no electrical resistance.

When looking into these kinds of boots, they may be called static-dissipating, which means it reduces how much static electricity builds up from moving and walking. These boots will dissipate the electricity and make it less likely that a static electric spark will ignite. However, these boots to not have any kind of protection from electrical equipment or live charges, making it a poor choice for environments with live circuits.

It is important to note that, regardless of the type of boots, protection is deteriorated in the event of exposure to humid environments, wet environments or developing excessive wear on the heel and outsoles of the boots.

Keeping Safe with Electrical Hazards

Electricity is a useful tool but can be quite the hazard; most people are already aware of this and are careful around it. However, it’s the less obvious hazards that can be the most dangerous, such as on a construction site where exposed electrical cables could be severed or ignite from an accident. In order to protect a worker from these kinds of threats, there are electrical hazard and anti-static boots available, many of which are now standard for such tradespeople.

As the name suggests, electrical hazard boots are the best to protect against electrical hazards. Anti-static boots provide great protection against wall socket situations, rather than high voltage protection.

Shopping for Safety Boots

When you’re in the market for a new pair of electrical hazard boots or anti-static footwear, there are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Do your homework. Check the requirements for your work environment and consider whatever personal needs you have for shoes.
• Pick the right size. Online shoppers don’t get to try on shoes before buying them, which makes proper measurement very important. Your boot size is essentially the same as your normal shoes; check the size of your current shoes as a guideline for buying boots.
• Check your foot width. While boots typically correspond to your normal shoe size, it’s important to know if your feet are wide or narrow. Measure with tape from the ball of the big toe to the little toe’s knuckle and around again. Try this during the early evening when feet are the largest during the day.
• Remember the comfort. It’s important enough to bring up again. Many brands today offer several additional features meant for comfort, such as lighter steel toes, ortholite insoles, more padding to absorb shock, as well as a variety of other shoes. Take the time to find the right boots for you. Check features listed in the description.
• Remember the aftercare. By taking a few minutes to care for your shoes after you’re done using them, they’ll last that much longer. Leather boots will require special leather or mink oil treatments to remain water-resistant and supple. When not in use, keep boots in a dry place to prevent odors and wear.