Personal Protective Equipment

Foot Protection

Safety footwear is required on all construction sites by all Workers at all times.

Safety footwear is designed to protect against foot hazards in the workplace. Safety footwear protects against compression, puncture, and impact injuries.

Safety footwear is divided into grades which tell the amount of resistance the toe will supply to different weights dropped from different heights.

Your choice of protective footwear should always over protect not under protect.

Safe Work Practices

Do

  • Choose footwear according to job hazards and applicable standards for your region.
  • Consider footwear that also provides electrical hazard protection (EH), to protect from accidental contact by stepping on a live electric wire.
  • Consider footwear that also provides puncture resistance (PR), to protect from injuries due to stepping on exposed or protruding sharp objects such as nails.
  • Lace up boot and tie laces securely; boots do not protect if they are a tripping hazard or fall off.
  • Use a protective boot dressing to help the boot last longer and provide greater water resistance (wet boots conduct current).
  • Choose a high cut boot to provide ankle support (fewer injuries).

Don’t

  • Wear defective safety footwear (e.g. exposed steel toe caps).
  • Under-protect your feet or modify safety footwear.
Standards

Canada: All safety footwear worn by Qualico Employees in Canada must meet and bear the markings outlined in CSA Standard Z194-14 (R2019). Look for the green triangle symbol.

U.S.: Safety Footwear is available in two types, non-safety toe and safety toe:

  • Standard ASTM F2892 (“non-safety toe”) covers the minimum requirements for the performance of footwear to provide protection against a variety of workplace hazards other than the toe area that can potentially result in injury.
  • Standard ASTM F2413 (“safety toe”) covers these same minimum requirements and includes protection for the toe area such as a steel or composite toe insert.

In construction, safety footwear meeting either the ASTM F2892 or ASTM F2413 requirements must be used. Both of these types of footwear are required to have the proper ASTM labeling ensuring that the footwear meets the minimum performance as stated in the ASTM specification.

For further information, see Applicable Legislation for your region.

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