Why Work Boots

[Jraef]

Work boots have a thicker sole, which makes it less likely that a sharp piece of debris will penetrate all the way into your foot.

Can confirm. I have had a metal shard poke into my boots on a job, that SHOULDN'T have had metal shards laying around. I felt it, but it didn't penetrate the sole of my foot. Took the boot off and it was not QUITE poking through the insole, but had it not been a work boot, it probably would have gone all the way in.

When you are on someone else's property, and something unforeseen happens, if they DIDN'T have a policy like that, your lawyer can sue them for not taking prudent measures to protect workers. ALL employers are LEGALLY REQUIRED to have a safety policy to protect not only their employees, but also any contractors on site. Part of any policy is involving PPE.

 

[brantmacga]

When I was doing residential, we all wore shorts and either sneakers or 6" ankle boot. A dried-in house in the south will reach well over 100 degrees and 100% humidity. You will be soaking wet head to toe. Most of the resi guys I would see at the supply house during the summer around here are still wearing shorts. My boss had 42" drum fans for us to setup in the houses, and that kept it just bearable.

My first commercial job we were allowed to wear shorts in the summer, but that only lasted a couple of years and they said the insurance company told them we all had to be in pants.

I started wearing dri-fit pants & shirts in the summer when working outside or in a hot building.

 

[garbo]

I hear people say proper attire for a construction worker are work boots and no shorts. And has been the policy my complete career. Can I ask why? I now do mainly residential electrical work with a few commercial customers. My one commercial customer has a no shorts policy but that is more of a health things as you also have to wear LAB coats and hair nets when there.

Work Boots, I do not see requiring steel toe boots in my line of work, and with todays newer shoe/ boot construction I feel you can get good quality ankle support and non slip features from a non traditional style shoe/boot. Other than a work boot.

Shorts- Summer is Hot and short and the more you can make it comfortable the better. I can see requiring pants when doing certain things trenching, attic and crawl space work but some things I do not see why pants would be required.

I am hiring a apprentice in the spring and would like to have a set policy when they start. Please help me understand the big picture.
Thanks

Company that I retired from only purchased approved PPE clothing, tinted face shield , two pairs of rubber gloves and electrical rated composite toe work boots. Every worker should have two pairs of rubber gloves because while one pair is out for mandatory 6 months testing along with a date stamp they can use the other pair. If you are going to work on energised equipment outdoors you should have a PPE sweat shirt with non metallic zipper and a heavy work jacket. About 12 years ago the company would only purchase 5 long sleeve shirts a year for us. Kept the sleeves rolled up when not working on or near energised equipment. Told us to only wear cotton tee shirts, underwear and socks. They do make PPE t shirts but never seen heard if of an electrician wearing one. If I was working in a mechanical or other hot area would remove my shirt if only running conduit.

 

[Hv&Lv]

Company that I retired from only purchased approved PPE clothing, tinted face shield , two pairs of rubber gloves and electrical rated composite toe work boots. Every worker should have two pairs of rubber gloves because while one pair is out for mandatory 6 months testing along with a date stamp they can use the other pair. If you are going to work on energised equipment outdoors you should have a PPE sweat shirt with non metallic zipper and a heavy work jacket. About 12 years ago the company would only purchase 5 long sleeve shirts a year for us. Kept the sleeves rolled up when not working on or near energised equipment. Told us to only wear cotton tee shirts, underwear and socks. They do make PPE t shirts but never seen heard if of an electrician wearing one. If I was working in a mechanical or other hot area would remove my shirt if only running conduit.

This is a lot like our policies.
We test gloves every 30 days though.
But our linemen are in them daily. Long sleeve shirts under the rubber sleeves also.
Makes for a hot day when the temps are high 90s.
Absolutely no shorts permitted

 

[NoahsArc]

When I was doing residential, we all wore shorts and either sneakers or 6" ankle boot. A dried-in house in the south will reach well over 100 degrees and 100% humidity. You will be soaking wet head to toe. Most of the resi guys I would see at the supply house during the summer around here are still wearing shorts. My boss had 42" drum fans for us to setup in the houses, and that kept it just bearable.

My first commercial job we were allowed to wear shorts in the summer, but that only lasted a couple of years and they said the insurance company told them we all had to be in pants.

I started wearing dri-fit pants & shirts in the summer when working outside or in a hot building.

Just curious why nobody ever brings portable AC units into these situations. You'd think the added productivity would make the minor cost worth it.

 

[garbo]

This is a lot like our policies.
We test gloves every 30 days though.
But our linemen are in them daily. Long sleeve shirts under the rubber sleeves also.
Makes for a hot day when the temps are high 90s.
Absolutely no shorts permitted

Was told at a continuing education c!ass & at a safety meeting to test rubber gloves before putting them on. Would fold over the end then roll up gloves maybe halve way then listen for leaks and see if air was not escaping. Best was when we sent them out every six months and they found a pin hole leak they would cut that finger tip off and supply us a pair of replacement gloves. The thin think they are called glove liners are great for absorbing sweat on hot days. I worked at the largest richest cheapest newspaper chain back when they were making huge profit and stock split. Never purchased any rubber & canvas protection gloves for the electricians. Told us they were going to purchase one pair of gloves for electricians to share. Told them that I would not work on energised equipment until I had my own pair.Also told them that sharing safety gloves is right up there with me refusing to share my test meter, underwear, razor & personal too!s.

 

[drcampbell]

... Every worker should have two pairs of rubber gloves because while one pair is out for mandatory 6 months testing along with a date stamp they can use the other pair. ...

When I worked at General Motors, we used red gloves half the year and black gloves the other half, so you could spot an expired glove at a glance.

There was a week-long summer shutdown and another in winter, but we sure kept the testing lab busy those two weeks.

 

[Hv&Lv]

Was told at a continuing education c!ass & at a safety meeting to test rubber gloves before putting them on. Would fold over the end then roll up gloves maybe halve way then listen for leaks and see if air was not escaping. Best was when we sent them out every six months and they found a pin hole leak they would cut that finger tip off and supply us a pair of replacement gloves. The thin think they are called glove liners are great for absorbing sweat on hot days. I worked at the largest richest cheapest newspaper chain back when they were making huge profit and stock split. Never purchased any rubber & canvas protection gloves for the electricians. Told us they were going to purchase one pair of gloves for electricians to share. Told them that I would not work on energised equipment until I had my own pair.Also told them that sharing safety gloves is right up there with me refusing to share my test meter, underwear, razor & personal too!s.

Yes. It’s in our policies gloves and sleeves should be inspected and air test gloves before EACH use. Way back when I did line work in the field, we would “glove” off the pole. 7,200V only, never 14,400.
That’s when it becomes especially important to test before each use.

 

[brantmacga]

Just curious why nobody ever brings portable AC units into these situations. You'd think the added productivity would make the minor cost worth it.

A 5-ton portable unit rental plus the cost of electricity running it would probably be $10k for 90 days.

 

[Fred B]

Just curious why nobody ever brings portable AC units into these situations. You'd think the added productivity would make the minor cost worth it.

A lot of the time for all the rough in there is no insulation in the building so any AC would be not any advantage. But I was thinking of designing PPE that has a PAC (Personal Air Conditioner) built into it and blows in through the entire suit. Like they have for the space suit type PPE. They have heated suits for winter use so why not AC for hot weather.

 

[hillbilly1]

Company that I retired from only purchased approved PPE clothing, tinted face shield , two pairs of rubber gloves and electrical rated composite toe work boots. Every worker should have two pairs of rubber gloves because while one pair is out for mandatory 6 months testing along with a date stamp they can use the other pair. If you are going to work on energised equipment outdoors you should have a PPE sweat shirt with non metallic zipper and a heavy work jacket. About 12 years ago the company would only purchase 5 long sleeve shirts a year for us. Kept the sleeves rolled up when not working on or near energised equipment. Told us to only wear cotton tee shirts, underwear and socks. They do make PPE t shirts but never seen heard if of an electrician wearing one. If I was working in a mechanical or other hot area would remove my shirt if only running conduit.

We would ship another pair of gloves before they expired, and the old pair would be shipped back for testing and re-issue. If the gloves were ever used without the leather protectors, they would require them to be immediately re-tested.

 

[NoahsArc]

A 5-ton portable unit rental plus the cost of electricity running it would probably be $10k for 90 days.

For a house, I'll take one or two $100 window units, what's that $100/mo in electric on top? You'll get that back.

A lot of the time for all the rough in there is no insulation in the building so any AC would be not any advantage. But I was thinking of designing PPE that has a PAC (Personal Air Conditioner) built into it and blows in through the entire suit. Like they have for the space suit type PPE. They have heated suits for winter use so why not AC for hot weather.

Humidity though. Around here I'll take a 30% humidity reduction over a 10deg reduction any day. That dry heat.
I think we've all had that suit idea at some point I've settled on securing a large box fan to my cart when possible, but it does jack all at 95F heat index or higher.

 

[Fred B]

For a house, I'll take one or two $100 window units, what's that $100/mo in electric on top? You'll get that back.

Humidity though. Around here I'll take a 30% humidity reduction over a 10deg reduction any day. That dry heat.
I think we've all had that suit idea at some point I've settled on securing a large box fan to my cart when possible, but it does jack all at 95F heat index or higher.

Usually have some big fans going will help some. Even use my little Milwaukee M18 fan for myself if I'm standing wiring up a panel.

 

[garbo]

We would ship another pair of gloves before they expired, and the old pair would be shipped back for testing and re-issue. If the gloves were ever used without the leather protectors, they would require them to be immediately re-tested.

We always sent out the canvas gloves that go over the 1& 20 KV gloves that we had. The other gloves lasted us seemed like forever because they never got dirty and always stored in large white glove bag and stored in our clean air conditioned electric shop gear locker.

 

[garbo]

When I worked at General Motors, we used red gloves half the year and black gloves the other half, so you could spot an expired glove at a glance.

There was a week-long summer shutdown and another in winter, but we sure kept the testing lab busy those two weeks.

That is a great idea having two different colored gloves. While in boot camp the drill sergeant made us paint maybe a 1/2" white dot on one pair of our boots and told us to switch them out everyday. Feet were a little score breaking in two pairs of boots but some lazy guys always wore one set of boots so they would not have to shine them. Of course drill sargeants knew every trick in the book and the day we were supposed to be wearing boots with white dots the drill sargeants caught some corner cutters then examined the other set we had. Caught more guys when the drill sargeants found soles of boots with no wear meaning they were never worn. Next day we had our first 20 mile march and guys with never worn boots had blisters on both feet.

 

[garbo]

personally, I am in favor of your employees wearing some kind of pants when on the job.

If you are working in someone else's factory, they likely have safety rules contractors have to comply with.

For residential work, I don't see why you would require any special clothing or safety gear, although I do think there are times when a bump cap is appropriate. And safety glasses are likely a good idea all the time.

I don't care much what the workers wear as long as they work, but some people are real funny about it.

Best bet is to specify work clothing for your employees that has your logo on it. I think shorts are OK when it is warm, and short sleeve shirts are OK as well as long as there are no special hazards or special customer requirements.

You should buy whatever clothing you are making your employees wear though. JMNSHO.

1 pair composite safety shoes
1 bump cap (they make these in ball cap style these days)
5 pairs long sleeve trousers
5 pairs shorts
5 long sleeve shirts
5 short sleeve shirts

Laundry is on him/her as are normal repairs.

Amazon.com

I did not click onto the attachment but please tell workers to never use fabric softer or fabric sheets on any PPE clothing. I put purchased wool balls to use in the dryer to reduce wrinkles & might speed up drying time. One word of caution if you purchase electrical rated work boots ( non metallic toe protectors ) never buy garbage ones made in cheating communist china. Do not trust WW Graingers web site for accurate country of origin. I could only locate one pair of this type of work boot not made in cheating china. Think they cost over $125. When they arrived they were the correct model but made in china. I never had a problem breaking in boots starting in Boy Scouts, Army and first 40 years working. I could not break in the three pairs of cheating china garbage work boots that work gave me.Tried various Inter soles and padded socks. After wearing them less then a hour my feet hurt the rest of the day. Wore each pair at least 25 times with no luck.

 

[Mystic Pools]

Unfortunately, most of footwear and clothing is not made here for quite some time.

i have Lowa hiking boots which are top rated and Merrel hiking shoes as well. Made in Slovakia and Vietnam respectively.

I like my Wolverine boots for years. They break in nice and they have safety toe models. But, made overseas.

I had a found a work boot company here in the US that manufacturers here, Never bought but maybe worth a look. Brunt Work Wear.

 

[PaulMmn]

A lot of the time for all the rough in there is no insulation in the building so any AC would be not any advantage. But I was thinking of designing PPE that has a PAC (Personal Air Conditioner) built into it and blows in through the entire suit. Like they have for the space suit type PPE. They have heated suits for winter use so why not AC for hot weather.

Adam Savage built one for use in his costume playing-- he had a NASA engineer with a miniature A/C that would fit in 1/2 a lunch box! Not including the batteries. It used water-filled tubing to keep you cool. There's a video out there...

 

[Besoeker3]

Unfortunately, most of footwear and clothing is not made here for quite some time.

i have Lowa hiking boots which are top rated and Merrel hiking shoes as well. Made in Slovakia and Vietnam respectively.

I like my Wolverine boots for years. They break in nice and they have safety toe models. But, made overseas.

I had a found a work boot company here in the US that manufacturers here, Never bought but maybe worth a look. Brunt Work Wear.

I use Grisport boots from Italy. They are waterproof and no breaking in. Their cost is around $140.

 

[zbang]

Boots vs shoes? As long as they have stout soles and proper toe caps why does it matter? The only difference is how much ankle support you need. Right now, I wear some electrically-rated Merrill shoes with composite toes; they're great for me.