Introduction
There is often a popular opinion, that since safety shoes are made up of materials with the ability to withstand a lot of stresses and impacts, its longevity and durability is derived from such and thus they are most likely not to expire in the actual sense. Several old artisans have been seen to boast about their rugged safety boots which were used many years ago and still thriving.
However, it is important to note that irrespective of the obvious long-life of safety boots, several indicators point to their deteriorating condition(s), which must be seriously considered for safety’s sake.
How can someone note the expiration date of a safety shoe?
Expiry dates are majorly established as the period in time when a commodity usage is supposed to end, but in several cases, we have come to see certain commodities thriving beyond this times and even lasting longer than expected, this happens to be the case for some high-quality safety shoes.
Most safety shoes do not truthfully come with an expiration date posted on the material, but such information if need be, are found majorly on the item’s safety data sheets or accompanied packs and boxes. Moreover, safety shoes are expected to be changed within every six (6) months to one (1) year of usage as stipulated by various international safety organizations.
However, in the advent of no expiration dates, one need not wait for the shoes to give them any signal as to its present condition before making the move to change the overdue and or overused boots.
One major way to identify that your boot has reached its prime starts from the comfort of your feet. When the initial comfort the insole materials give to your feet ceases to be felt, it is an indication that the safety boot has begun to lose its valour. This and many other indications can be used to note the expiration of the safety boot.
By stating the several indications that must be noted before the final decision is employed to get the used boots changed, it is wise to note when the safety shoes can at any time become inefficacious in nature, it doesn’t have to wait up to a long time considering its usage frequency and the number of impacts or exposure reached.
Osha Approach to Expiration of Safety Footwears
The occupational safety and health administration OSHA in 1994 published a revision on its personnel-protective equipment regulations 29 CFR 1910.136, which stipulated the standard on foot protection, aside from this regulation for the standardization of safety footwear, they also ensured the incorporation of basic ways in which the safety footwear can be taken care of, this is because in as much as purchasing and using a safety footwear is important, taking care of these protective gear is also important and must be handled with care.
One of the recommendations made by the OSHA on determining when to change your safety boot is by X-ray. This is done only at the personnel’s discretion or that of the contractor/employee or issuer, though this is not done often.
The importance of conducting x-rays is because the property of impact resistance of a safety boot may have been reduced in the course of work below the impact standard. The hardcore-cap material for the toe is usually covered thus there may be no visible signs of damage. Some professionals, however, suggest that shoes should be changed immediately it is noticed to have suffered a severe impact due to the unawareness of the gravity of damage incurred.
Does storage affect the expiration of safety boots?
One important contributor to safety boot expiration is the medium or method of storage, most polyurethane polymer-based safety boots have been observed to experience hydrolysis (the chemical breakdown of polymer compounds) after about 2years of storage and this contributes to the deterioration of the safety shoes under this category. Hence, during the replacement of expired boots, one must ensure the new ones have not spent a lot of time in storage and have not deteriorated in quality.
Storage method also becomes a cue for the routine and daily check of the safety boot by the user to avoid catalyzing the path to deterioration or expiration.
Expiration Indications
Indications could be from the labelled dates to obvious observations made in the process of usage. These indications could amount to alarming consequences if actions are not taken.
Worn-out soles: This is a glaring indication that denotes the deteriorated condition of a safety boot. Worn-out outsoles clearly show that the safety booty has lost a good percentage of its impact/shock dampening structure. Worn-out soles are dangerous in the sense that they become easily permeable and susceptible to penetrants, so the boot at this point ceases to protect the feet from sharp objects. Once the punch resistivity of the footwear is observed, it should be changed.
Loose Grip: Also, aside from the fact that safety shoes lose the ability to protect the feet from sharp objects, they also lose grip and or adhesive power necessary to prevent slipping. The skid resistance of safety shoes is no longer in play, as a result, the personnel becomes susceptible to falls in any slippery environment.
Poor Insulation: Another detriment of worn-out soles is the loss of insulation from heat and electrocution. In high temperature or relatively cold temperature environments, worn-out soles could become high conductors of heat resulting to scalding of the soles and discomfort to a person. However via wear and tear of the outsole, the insulating materials of which the soles are made of, are no more and current can easily flow from sources of electricity to the feet, thus one is exposed to possible electrocution or similar hazards.
Chemical Attack: Exposure to chemical attack of corrosive fluids to the feet is another hazard that could be avoided if a worn-out boot is changed, as this could result in burns and injuries to the feet. Also, chemical reactions with rubber materials such as the shoe sole can result to discolouration and swellings, cracks delamination and other forms of degradation when such signs are noticed it is important that you change the footwear.
Lack of Comfort: This oftentimes is the overall indication that a safety boot has lost its effectiveness and must be changed. Discomfort is felt by the feet and this becomes worse under adverse conditions and in harsh environments. For footwear that have replaceable insoles, the deterioration of the insole, which if after replacement doesn’t provide the required comfort may result in the replacement of the boot.
The Detriments of Expired Safety Boots
The detriments or adverse effects of expired safety boots are too numerous to mention, and they happen also to be common hazards which the feet are exposed to.
Expired boots are time bombs, they can cause a lot of injury or a chain reaction of accidents if they are not replaced on time. This chains of reactions could range from discomfort to personnel to poor execution of tasks or the sustenance of injuries to death of personnel. It’s therefore very important that when indications are noticed, boots must be replaced and properly discarded to avoid the temptation to reuse them.
A minute tear or crack on the fabrics and structure of the safety boot can compromise its effectiveness, thus the very important need not to rely on the visual or noticeable needs for replacement.
Just as we check our car radiators every morning for water, safety boots must be well taken care of and at all times checked before wearing them to account for their current condition. Many men have lost not just their feet but an entire leg due to the lack of warning on the present condition of their safety boots.
Conclusion
We have seen that safety boots do expire whether there be obvious indications or not, and a regular check on the status of the safety boot goes a long way to avoid countless danger and unforeseen disastrous events or outcomes. It is also always a wise move to quickly change overdue and overused boots, though in most cases one need not wait till the boots are overused before one can effect a replacement. However, it is also important to understand that the longevity or expiration profile of a safety boot is an important factor employed during the decision making process that precedes safety boot selection and or purchase.
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