Staying In Sight, On Site
How hi- vis safety footwear can save life as well as limb
Much has already been written about the worrying record of injuries and fatalities in the construction and farming industries so let’s firstly focus on a breakthrough in personal safety which merchants are best placed to deliver: hi-vis safety footwear.
Buckbootz are pioneers and leaders in hi-vis safety footwear and launched the first ever range of high visibility and reflective leather and Cordura® safety boots called Buckz Viz in 2018.
Buckz Viz was followed by the neoprene/rubber hi-vis and reflective BBZ8000 in December 2020 to bring totally new dimensions of personal safety along with 360° reflectivity to the workplace. Many of the fatalities, injuries and close calls at construction and agricultural locations and merchants’ yards involve reversing vehicles and machinery movement. You tend to think about hi-vis clothing in these circumstances but in many cases the first things you see in mirrors when reversing are legs and feet. Nowadays many cyclists wear hi-vis footwear as well as clothing and what’s the first thing which catches your eye? Moving feet.
Buckz Viz and BBZ 8000 have literally made end users and the merchant sector take notice and there is one very important point to remember: reflective on its own is not sufficient. Hi-vis is effective in all light, in all conditions, round the clock and all year round.
Construction site and farming activity gets into full swing in the spring and summer months. Vehicle and personnel movements increase and so does danger to life and limb.
The Buckz Viz range comes with full EN/UKCA S3 standards certification. They are waterproof and non metallic too and the hi-vis Cordura® material is easily and quickly cleaned when required with some warm water and a soft brush.
S3 (and S1 P) standard certification provides comprehensive safety toecap and ‘nail stop’ anti-penetration midsole and antistatic protection and, in the vast majority of cases, all the site, yard and field protection required. If you familiarise yourselves with these codes on the labels which are permanently attached to the products and shown on the packaging, you will be on the right side with the guidance you dispense.
Other codes like HRO and SRC relate to outsole performance. HRO relates to heat resistance (300ºC/60 seconds) and SRA, SRB or SRC categorises the soles’ degree of anti-slip capability. SRC is the current maximum standard.
However, be on guard. There are safety footwear products with high and niche market profiles which only have safety toecap protection. These carry the EN/UKCA code, ‘SB’. If ‘P’ is not also shown in the code then the footwear does not provide nail stop protection and should not be worn on construction sites or in farm yards for that matter.
With the sun shining and many personnel in shorts, you would imagine that safety wellies would be the last item of PPE in minds. Not any more. Nowadays wellies are never too far from reach. Safety wellington boots come with the same requirement to conform to safety directives as all other safety footwear but instead of EN/UKCA S3 look out for EN/UKCA S5 which is the equivalent to S3 in boots of this type.
The recently launched BBZ8000 comes with a host of other certified features and is believed to be the first ever boot in neoprene/rubber construction and of this type to feature EN/UKCA certified ankle impact protection (AN standard). The structure of this type of boot also enables the anti impact material to straddle the achilles area and provide even more wearer protection. In addition to being hi-vis, BBZ8000 is 360º reflective too.
Buckbootz has championed personal safety in the construction and agricultural industries since 1998 and is using this unwavering commitment to create new and exciting products to help drive home the absolute necessity of properly protecting all personnel as they go about their daily business, indoors, outdoors and in all weathers.
