If you work in the building industry long enough, you’re going to get hurt. It’s the nature of working in a field where small missteps can have large consequences.

Responsible tradespeople limit the frequency and severity of injuries by wearing appropriate safety equipment like footwear rated by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).

The performance standards for ASTM-rated footwear are required to be listed on the label of each pair of shoes or boots. Understanding the labeling convention will help you to determine what footwear best meets your needs.

Acronyms clarified

Safety footwear has its own collection of acronyms to describe the protection each type of boot provides. Here’s a glossary:

PR

Puncture resistance. Protective plates layered between the insole and the outsole of the boot prevent sharp objects like nails and glass from piercing the foot. PR-rated boots are more readily available in Canada than the United States due to different regulations up north.

CD

Conductive. Designed to prevent the buildup of static electricity, these boots promote the transfer of an electrical charge from the body to the ground. They’re often worn when working around volatile chemicals or sensitive electronics, which typically are not found on a construction site.

EH

Electrical hazard. Made with nonconductive soles and heels to insulate the wearer from the ground, these boots help to prevent shock from accidental contact with electrical currents. They should be worn by anyone who works around live wires.

SD

Static dissipative. Similar to conductive footwear, these boots transfer a charge from the body to the floor quickly enough to prevent static buildup, but also prevent conductive activity to a degree. Boots are available in type 1 or type 2, which dissipate a different-size charge at a different rate. Type 1 is most popular.

CS

Chainsaw-cut resistant. Long synthetic fibers, which look a lot like corn silk, are built into the outsoles of these boots. If the chain tears into the boot, the fibers quickly jam it, stopping the chain from moving and causing further harm.

MT

Metatarsal guard. These boots have plates that extend over the metatarsal bones and provide the top portion of the foot with impact protection.

Buying tip

The safety performance of ASTM-rated footwear is the same from manufacturer to manufacturer. No brand of boot is stronger than another with regard to its ASTM rating. Also, price does not reflect protective quality. Inexpensive ASTM-rated footwear has the same protective quality as more-expensive models.

Impact vs. compression resistance

Impact resistance prevents your toes from being crushed. Impact-resistant boots are constructed to ensure that your toes are not broken or damaged by the initial blow of a falling object, such as a wall, a floor joist, or a brick paver.

Compression resistance prevents the boot’s protective toe cap from collapsing. When an object falls onto the foot, it’s important for the toe cap to maintains its structure so that the foot can easily be extracted from the boot.

Photo by: Krysta S. Doerfler