By Jayden Mark
The responsibility of ensuring a healthy and safe working environment lies with the employer. Employers are entitled to provide their employees with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to reduce risks associated with working environments. In a working environment, for example a construction site, employees receive safety helmets, highly visible clothing, safety footwear and eye protection among other PPE.
Employers ought to seek the best PPE in terms of quality. In doing this, they protect the workers against work related injuries and in a case where the injury cannot be prevented; the PPE reduces the severity of the injury. It is a win-win. Both for the employer and the employee. The employee is protected against injury risk; the employer neither loses his employee for more days due to injury .
It is necessary for the employee to invest well in the PPE they provide. That is why, today, we will be talking about the side-zipper safety boot. It is a great choice for a worker in an industrial working environment and gives the employee value for his money.
Lace-up or Zipper First?
The side-zipper has not replaced the shoelaces. The zipper only acts as a supplement. The shoelaces are there to provide tension and comfort for the foot and ankle. Laces have to be tightened if they loosen up to maintain the tension. They also need to be replaced in case they are worn out.
How the Side-Zipper Safety Boots Work
To someone wearing these work boots for the first time, I recommend putting on the shoe with the zipper zipped up. Put on the shoe just like a normal boot with no zipper and tighten the laces to get that comfortable foot and ankle tension. When taking off the boot, leave the laces laced up and zip down the zipper. Your leg comes out easily and the next time you want to put the boots back on, you do not need to tamper with the laces.
Benefits of the Side-Zipper Safety Boot
The side-zipper safety work boots are easy to put on and take off when compared to the lace-up boots. The footwear, meant for the military and law enforcement personnel, enables them to be ready for combat in the least time possible. If an employee is in a situation, where he has to take off his shoes in order to escape an accident, he can do so with ease. For example, an employee has to take off his shoes to avoid drowning; they can easily take off their shoes and manage to find safety. More so, when on break the worker can easily take off the shoes and let his feet rest. The employee having time to rest his feet reduces the risk of getting a foot disease.
The ease to take off the boot also reduces the chance of tracking dirt into the house. After a whole day working, taking off laced up boots may feel very tiresome and so you just decide to get into the house with them and find some place to rest as you take your time taking off the boots. The side-zipper boots are easy to take off. You only zip down and the boot easily comes of the feet with less effort and less time.
Not only do the boots have a side zipper, the boots also have standard front laces. This enables the worker to adjust the boots to fit, providing comfort for the employee when working and increasing their productivity. The worker does not have to adjust the laces every time he puts the boots on. He can leave the boots laced up if he found a comfortable lacing spot, enabling a worker to repeat the fit when he puts on the boots again and spend less time compared to when lacing them up.
The work boot provides flexibility for the worker. If a worker need maximum lower leg protection they go for the side-zipper boots with sturdy uppers and if the worker prefer the flexibility of a smaller boot, those without sturdy uppers are available.
The side-zipper safety boot also come in different colors. If the employer wants something concealing for his employees, he can be able to get it. The color the employer chooses can also contribute to the looks of an employee. On top of employees lacing their shoelaces less often, the color of the boot will also determine how professional and clean an employee looks.
One might be thinking, but the zipper may provide an entry point for water into the boot. However, worry not. There are waterproof and water resistant side-zipper safety boots depending on your preference. If you feel you need a waterproof boot, make sure you get one. There are side-zipper boots, which have gussets behind the zipper. This provide protection against water getting into the boot.
Final Word
I can bet that a side-zipper boot will provide both comfort and convenience when compared to the traditional lace tightening safety boots.
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