When you’re working in cold, and often in humid environments, you have to be careful to protect your feet. The legislation on safety footwear helps to prevent damage caused by cold, but at the same time learning more about the technical solutions invented by manufacturers on safety shoes for cold weather will help you a lot.
In this article I’ll explain to you technically what to search for if you need safety shoes for cold, because on the market there is a number of footwear solutions for this purpose.
I bet you’ll be surprised by how easy it is to find the right product for yourself!
- Have you ever been working in cold storages for more than 30 minutes?
- Or maybe you work on a platform in Northern Europe and you have to work on a cold surface?
Well, you definitely need safety shoes for cold weather, I’ll explain you what does exist on the market, what technical specifications you have to look for the perfect safety shoes for cold weather for your needs.
The problem arising from the non-use of safety shoes for cold weather is that you can have many kinds of problems including chilblains, skin cracks or even worse diseases. That’s why I strongly recommend you to make a good search of safety shoes for cold weather
The best solutions for safety footwear for cold weather, to protect your feet from cold, are coming from the outsole and from the internal lining:
Contents
1) FIRST SOLUTION – OUTSOLE:
you have the European legislation in your favor. In the UNI EN ISO 20345 and UNI EN ISO 20347 there is a chapter dedicated to “Resistance to inimical environments” and there a technical plus called “CI” is indicated. CI means COLD INSULATION and it is the marking for outsoles with a feature of cold insulation from the ground (the test is made by filling a conditioned shoe with steel balls, then putting it in a cold box at -17 ± 2 °C, and after 30 minutes measuring the increase in temperature on the upper surface of the insole, the increase in temperature after this time has to be lower than 10ºC.
2) SECOND SOLUTION – LINING:
there are several cold insulating linings like:
- Thinsulate – www.3m.com
- Primaloft – www.primaloft.com
- Thermolite – www.thermolite.com
Also Gore-tex www.gore-tex.com, that is not a membrane made for insulating against cold (mainly it will protect against water and liquids permeation) has a 4 layers product with one of the 4 layers made of insulating felt.
The cold is really one of the worst situations that workers face when working outside in low temperatures. The cold slows down the ability to carry out the work activity as the lack of comfort leads to distraction and slowing down, therefore investing on the comfort of the feet against the cold is really an excellent investment for both the worker and the employer. Today there are clearly avant-garde materials that can make your work really better. One of them is Thinsulate, a very famous product created by the equally famous 3M, a product that creates greater insulation of the foot against atmospheric agents. But it must be said that there are also many other linings to warm the foot, including fur. Work socks and insoles also play an important role, which in turn can also be insulating. As far as certifications are concerned, there is the CI marking which guarantees that the shoe has been tested for resistance to lowering of the internal temperature, that is, at the height of the internal insole.
Best safety shoes for cold selected by SafetyShoesToday:
Thinsulate:
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
CI:
Amazon.co.uk
Best accessories for safety shoes for cold temperature selected by SafetyShoesToday:
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
Finally, the solutions that I suggest to you when looking for safety footwear for cold are:
- look at the name of the shoe, does it include “CI” in the full name? Example: BACOU SILVEX S3 CI SRC
-
in the product’s description is there any reference to an internal insulating lining?
There is a ton of safety shoes for cold weather on the market to help you get protected from cold.
The result? Warmer feet, and if you choose safety shoes for cold weather with good materials you will also have high breathability. It is not said that insulation has no breathability, it is just a matter of quality of materials!
I grant you that if you use the right safety footwear for cold weather you’ll live a better working experience in cold environments.
What do you think about safety footwear for the winter time?
Do you have any experience that you would like to share?
Would you like to add some details?
Please write your comments below!
