When you’re working in places where there is a risk of perforation of the bottom of the shoe, from nails or sharp objects, you have to be careful to protect your feet. The legislation on safety footwear helps to prevent damages caused by perforation of the shoe, but also learning more about the technical solutions invented by manufacturers on safety footwear with puncture resistant plate will help you a lot.
In this article I’ll technically explain you what to search for if you need safety footwear with puncture resistant plate, 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!
Do you work in the recycling of steel? Do you often notice the presence of nails on the floor? Are you working with pallets or in the construction sector? Do you work in tires manufacturing and the floor is full of sharp steel cables? Do you work in the glass industry?
Well, you definitely need safety footwear with puncture resistant plate, I’ll explain to you what exists on the market, what technical specifications you have to look for to find the perfect safety footwear with puncture resistant plate for your needs.
The problem arising from the non-use of safety footwear with puncture resistant plate is that you can have a foot injured by a perforation. That’s why I strongly recommend that you make a good search of safety footwear with puncture resistant plate.
Contents
Let’s see some description of puncture resistant plates, coming from the UNI EN ISO 20345 norm:
- PENETRATION RESISTANT INSERT: footwear component placed in the sole complex in order to provide protection against penetration. The safety footwear with puncture resistant plate includes a plate that is placed under the comfort insole and the norm specifies that this plate should be built in such manner that it cannot be removed without damaging the footwear.
The puncture resistant plate can be made out of two materials, steel or textile.
Let’s see some differences between the two materials:
- The requirements of the tests. When testing the steel puncture resistant plate, the force required to penetrate the sole shall be not less than 1100N. Instead, when testing the textile (non metallic) puncture resistant plate, using a force of at least 1100N, the tip of the test nail shall not penetrate through the test piece. The test is conducted differently because of the different characteristics of the two materials.
- textile puncture resistant plates are sewn just under the comfort insole, so that if you take out the comfort insole you will be able to see the textile puncture resistant plate. Instead, steel puncture resistant plates are placed under the cloth that is sewn at the bottom of the upper, so you won’t be able to see it even if you take out the comfort insole.
- steel puncture resistant plates are less flexible than textile ones, due to the characteristics of the metal.
- The average puncture resistant steel plate weights about 90gr, while the average textile plate weights about 50gr.
- steel puncture resistant plates are more indicated for protecting you against very sharp and tiny objects, while they could penetrate the textile one.
- steel puncture resistant plates, even if the metal is treated, are subject to a little of corrosion if the outsole undergoes the infiltration of liquids.
- textile puncture resistant plates can contribute to make a footwear non metallic, whereas with steel plates it is not possible. If you need a footwear that cannot be scanned by metal detectors you cannot wear a footwear equipped with puncture resistant steel plates.
- steel puncture resistant plates could conduct heat and cold.
- steel puncture plates could conduct electricity.
- A footwear with steel puncture resistant plate is, in general, less flexible than one that is equipped with a textile plate.
- steel puncture resistant plates, for reasons related to the construction process, cannot protect the full surface of the footwear, while textile ones protect the full area of the footwear.
- steel plates are more economic than textile plates.
After all these considerations, a question will come out. Should I always prefer a textile puncture resistant plate? Not really, it is true that textile puncture resistant plates are gaining more and more presence on the market at the expense of steel ones, but it really depends from the type of risk that you are facing.
If your need is flexibility, full surface protection and the metal free property, than textile plates are your choice. If you are working in the presence of very sharp objects or tiny little nails, a steel plate could be more recommendable. For example many firefighters boots are equipped with steel puncture resistant plate. In any case, the support of your safety manager could help you choose the right product.
Which type of occupational or safety footwear with puncture resistant plate should you look for?
OCCUPATIONAL FOOTWEAR (UNI EN ISO 20347):
- OBP
- O1P
- O3
- O5
SAFETY FOOTWEAR (UNI EN ISO 20345):
- SBP
- S1P
- S3
- S5
Best safety footwear with puncture resistant plate picks by SafetyShoesToday
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk
There is a ton of safety footwear with puncture resistant plate on the market to help you be protected from perforations.
I guarantee that if you use the right safety footwear with PR plate you’ll live a better working experience.
What do you think about safety footwear with PR plate?
Do you have any experience that you would like to share?
Would you like to add some details?
