Don’t make a mistake and think that the fact that you’re working around your home means you can dress casually. You might say that you’re not a craftsman by trade, but that is precisely why you need the most adequate protection. You’ll probably be working with some power equipment which you also probably don’t know how to handle perfectly, meaning that the chances of injury just got higher.
Okay, you’ll supply the protection. But the thing is that most people are focused on their upper body, mostly on their arms. You’ll think about safety precautions before using a power drill, won’t you? You’ll have to protect your arms, head, chest, and legs. But it’s as if people are not aware that their feet are a part of their legs. When things don’t fall on your head, they fall on your toes, right? But there’s much more than that.
When it comes to laying a foundation for worker safety, this should start from the ground up. All levels of injury can come from one small misstep and your work boots are equally responsible for your movement as your feet.
1. Standing Tall
And I mean literally tall- when you’re repairing or washing your roof, installing or replacing your windows, cleaning the gutter, etc. All these situations might lead to slippage and you don’t want to break your neck. In order to ensure stability, you need to go for flat soles and make sure your work boots come with shock-absorbent insoles - their footbed has abundant cushioning which will take care of your walking on harder surfaces.
2. Wiggle Your Way
Things mightn't only fall on you, you might also fall on them - just think about scattered sharp nails. Trip and fall accidents don’t happen only to clumsy people, but also the ones who are not able to walk properly. And the reason for this mainly lies in your choice of work footwear. It’s impossible to walk steadily if you develop hot spots and blisters, making every step painful. That’s why it’s mandatory to make sure your work boots are comfortable with a wide enough toe box - you mustn’t feel any pressure when wiggling your toes.
If you choose work boots with flexibility and stability you have footwear that protects your legs, spine, shoulders, and neck - this is what I meant when I said that the foundation of your safety starts from the ground up. But this footwear is not only helpful when it comes to long working hours standing or kneeling, but its benefits can also be used in everyday life activities. As the matter of fact, Australian style work boots will never get out of style.
3. Indestructible Toes
Even if you don’t fall on things, there is a chance they’ll fall on you. For some mysterious reason, heavy things tend to fall right at your toes. So you need to make your toes almost indestructible, and this is where your steel-toe work boots come in handy. You can also go for aluminum-toe if you require your boots to be lighter in order to attain more freedom of movement, but you should know that they don’t conduct temperature that well.
4. Weather
if you plan to plunge into any home improvement projects outside you need to take the weather into account. I know that you’re not gonna work in heavy rain, but the ground can be wet for a couple of days after. These projects usually last throughout the whole day, which is quite enough for you to catch a nasty cold if your feet get wet. Maybe the ground might look dry, but who knows what some digging might discover. If you end up ankle deep in the muddy ground no amount of socks will save you, so wearing water resistant work boots is mandatory.
5. Shock
For the end, we’re gonna talk about the shock you definitely don’t want to absorb - an electrical one. Repairing electrical issues inside your home may accidentally put you in contact with live electrical circuits that could lead to electric shock, and you need non-conductive work boots to reduce it - just look for the ‛EH’ rating. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean they can’t have the steel-toe. The popular opinion that metal in a boot is bad when working around electricity is a common misconception - metal is conductive only when in contact with other metal. Having rubber outsoles is mandatory because it will ground any charges during the accident, and it is also very useful when it comes to slippage mentioned earlier.
As you could see, when it comes to home improvement danger lurks from every side - from above, from below, through electricity, and even within your own skin in the form of blisters and hot-spots. And precisely because of that, proper work boots are essential.
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