Safety in the workplace takes many forms, from mental health to staff training, with one of the easiest to protect against being the physical safety aspects. Personal protective equipment (PPE) guidelines and regulations have been in place for decades, meaning that there isn’t any excuse for employers who fail to protect their employees’ physical safety.
The costs of work injuries stack up into the hundreds of billions in the United States, so, in addition to keeping your employees safe, providing essential PPE equipment and safe working practices benefits the business at large. Cultivating a safe working environment helps to increase the happiness and willingness to comply among your employees. This results in fewer accidents, a greater level of productivity, and a higher rate of employee retention.
However, many businesses still see PPE as an undesirable expense and so skimp on the essential equipment. This is likely one of the reasons behind fewer workers reporting that they are at least satisfied with the physical safety precautions in place at work in the United States. A starting point that most businesses need to provide in PPE is safety shoes, and the benefits that can come from offering safety toe shoes far exceeds a steel toe.
The necessity of providing safety shoes
If sufficient safety isn’t provided by good practice, engineering, and administrative controls, an employer has to provide PPE and training under the law. More often than not, if PPE is required, some form of work wear safety shoes will either be essential or will significantly enhance the protection offered by you, the employer. They’re also the most common-sense form of PPE for you to provide.
Your employees’ feet will effectively dictate their mobility, work speed, and comfort on the job. Where any of these are hindered – such as by an accident or discomfort – productivity and happiness will decrease. As such, the best safety shoes are essential, providing the means to work at optimum levels at all times. If you provide the right safety toe shoes, you’ll reap the benefits across the board.
What are safety shoes?
Safety shoes have taken several forms over the years, with steel toe safety shoes being the original necessities in workplace footwear. These steel toe caps have evolved a great deal over the years, with carbon fiber, composite materials, and strengthened aluminum incorporated to provide a greater degree of protection and comfort. Now, however, the best safety shoes span a tremendous range of requirements.
Most will still tick the most basic of boxes for being safety toe shoes, but others also incorporate slip resistance, metatarsal protection, electric protection, puncture resistance, and heat resistance. However, if the PPE isn’t one of the most comfortable safety shoes, employees either won’t wear it, will tamper, or will sustain an injury through the discomfort.
What are the most comfortable safety shoes?
The most comfortable safety shoes will always come down to the preference of your employees. As everyone has different shaped feet – not just size, but also structure – what constitutes comfortable safety toe shoes differs. So, it’s always good to offer a range of the best safety shoes to choose from, but as safety is important as well, the best place to start is somewhere that offers both at an appropriately high standard.
As the names would suggest, the Engelbert Strauss Comfort work wear safety shoes tick all of the boxes for both comfort and protection. The Safety boots Comfort and Safety shoes Comfort ranges offer a good variation for the different jobs that are required of work wear safety shoes. The safety toe shoes offer a bit more mobility while the boots offer additional ankle cover.
Comfort should never be underestimated in PPE, particularly when it comes to steel toe safety shoes or any other composite of safety toe shoes. If the equipment is comfortable, employees will be happy to wear it, removing any lost time adjusting, tampering, or having a break due to the discomfort. Furthermore, a happy worker is more productive – especially when that happiness comes from the perceived comfort and safety provided by their boss.
If you want to get the most out of your workforce, the best place to start is with suitable and comfortable work wear safety shoes.
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