9/12/2007

Recently, a brand of footwear that has become popular in hospitals has come under fire. Critics are claiming Crocs—brightly colored clogs made of a polymer resin with styles with holes on the tops and sides—pose health and safety risks. Possible risks cited include injury from falling scalpels or needles, infection from blood dropping through the holes, and the potential for disruption of medical equipment from static electricity build-up caused by the shoes. Some health organizations have developed policies which, in effect, ban Crocs, much to the chagrin of their employees, who discount the risks and claim the shoes provide extraordinary comfort and ease of cleaning. The debate raging over Crocs brings up an issue that many organizations fail to consider: Should you have a policy on footwear, and what should that policy be?

There are instances where the need for a policy on footwear is clear—such as when a regulation requires one. Under the Cal/OSHA General Industry Safety Orders, protective footwear is required when employees are exposed to foot injuries from:

• electrical hazards
• hot, poisonous, or corrosive substances
• falling objects
• crushing or penetrating actions
• abnormally wet conditions

There are also safety orders requiring workers to wear protective footwear in specific situations, including using heat-insulated footwear when operating a coke oven and nonsparking footwear when working in ship building and repair operations involving volatile liquids. The safety orders also specify paying attention to certain aspects of footwear (e.g., not wearing worn footwear in construction and not wearing footwear with waffling or patterns that might retain material in explosive operations).

When there is no specific regulation requiring protective footwear, an organization may still need a policy. In these instances, a risk assessment should be done to determine if there are hazards that warrant requiring protective footwear or banning certain footwear that poses a hazard for specific jobs (for example, not allowing high heels to be worn while climbing ladders to stock shelves) or because certain footwear does not sufficiently protect (for example, not allowing flip-flops because they don't cover the tops and sides of the foot).

Additional Resources:

More articles on Personal Protective Equipment