ISO 20345 Personal Protective Equipment - Safety Shoes

The ISO 20345 standard, published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) , describes the basic and optional requirements for general-purpose safety footwear. For example, mechanical risks, slip resistance, thermal risks, and ergonomic design are covered by this standard. This standard also describes the requirements for safety footwear equipped with custom insoles, bespoke safety shoes, or custom-made safety shoes. This standard does not cover high visibility due to interaction with clothing and work environment conditions.

Specific risks are covered by complementary business-related standards. For example, shoes for firefighters, electrically insulated shoes, shoes that protect against chain saw injuries or chemicals, molten metal splashes, and protection for motorcycle riders.

For the purposes of this standard,

• The term safety shoes refers to shoes that contain safety features to protect the wearer from injuries resulting from accidents. The parts of the safety shoes are equipped with toes designed to protect against at least 200 J of impact and at least 15 kN of compression.
• The phrase customized safety shoes covers all individual customized shoes. Customized safety shoes include in their design the recipient's own physiognomy and special arrangements aimed at modifying, correcting, ameliorating or preventing a pathology. For example, overweight, diabetes, hyperhidrosis or misalignments. Some of these shoes are equipped with customized inner socks. Part of it has been modified to suit a user, separate from the original structure. Bespoke safety shoes, on the other hand, are safety shoes that are individually made to fit the individual wearer.

Before choosing safety shoes for workers, a risk assessment of the workplace should be carried out. The results of this assessment show which hazards workers need to be protected from and allow to choose the most suitable safety shoes.

The following hazards should be considered during a risk assessment :

• wet conditions
• Electrostatic deposition
• Slips, cuts and punctures
• falling objects
• Metal and chemical splash
• extreme temperatures
• outdoor or indoor use

Our organization also provides testing services for safety shoes as personal protective equipment, within the scope of ISO 20345 standard, with its trained and expert staff and advanced technological equipment, among the numerous test, measurement, analysis and evaluation studies it provides for businesses in various sectors.