SHOE CONCERNS AND FOOT PROBLEMS OF WEARERS OF SAFETY FOOTWEAR

In Australia workers in many industries are required to wear safety fo otwear (footwear incorporating a steel toe cap). An investigation of t he problems reported by 321 workers (70 per cent male) employed in a b road range of work activities and required to wear safety footwear was conducted in 1990 and 1991. Respondents were interviewed by a profess ionally trained podiatrist using a structured questionnaire followed b y a foot examination. An extremely high percentage (91 per cent) of su bjects reported one or more foot problems (which were verified by the podiatrist), and most considered that the safety footwear either cause d the problem or adversely affected an existing foot condition. The ma in shoe concerns reported were excessive heat (65 per cent of all resp ondents), inflexible soles (52 per cent), weight (48 per cent) and pre ssure from steel toe cap (47 per cent). Certain gender differences wer e identified. General recommendations are made.