Safety shoe toecaps go clear

An Australian company has released what is claimed to be the first non-metallic and clear safety toecap in the world that passes three major international impact tests, being Australian & New Zealand Standards AS/NZS 2210.3 Class 1, European EN 345 Class 1 and USA ANSI Z41. The new toecap, known as Hi-PA, or High Impact Polymer Alloy, is also claimed to be completely transparent.

The impact test regime is very severe and aims to represent common industry accidents. It is extremely important to protect the toes, as they are critical in balance control of the body whilst walking and standing.

The impact testing method requires a special drop test apparatus to be used. The toecap is held in place, then a 20 g weighted chisel is dropped from a height of 1020 mm releasing an energy force of some 200 joules. The height that the toecap depresses is then measured after the impact.

The minimum average height that the toecap must obtain is between 12.5 and 15 mm depending on the size of the toecap used. Tests have showed that no steel toecap can receive two consecutive 200 joule impacts and still pass the impact test standard. The new Hi-PA toecap on the other hand has been claimed to retain its integrity after five consecutive impacts without failing the minimum clearance.

Footwear Industries export and marketing manager, Peter Nichols said the company had been developing the Hi-PA toecap for a couple of years with a clear aim of coming up with a non-metallic safety toecap that would out-perform anything on the market regardless of which international standard was in place.

"This was important from our company's global marketing strategy as we export to a number of countries that operate different impact standards. There are so many advantages over steel toecaps but we felt it was important that we could prove once and for all that a non-metallic material was superior to steel and Hi-PA certainly proves that."

Nichols says, "We tested a number of off-the-shelf non-metallic toecaps but found they did not meet all our requirements. Some toecaps use fibres, which can cause skin irritations. Others were too big and bulky and just didn't look right. Most of these toecaps performed similar to steel toecaps and could only endure one impact test. All the toecaps we looked at were solid colours. The Hi-PA cap is completely clear so we can see if there are any imperfections in the material before we use them or test them."

According to Nichols, apart from the impact test the Hi-PA safety toecap was subjected to a number of additional tests that steel is not required to undertake, such as immersing the Hi-PA toecap in various solutions including sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide and isooctane for 24 hours prior to impact testing. Once again, according to Nichols, they "exceeded the impact requirement".

The company says that another benefit of the Hi-PA toecap over conventional steel toecaps apart from being stronger is that they are 40 per cent lighter, which means heavy safety boots are a thing of the past. Nichols says this is an important fact in reducing fatigue for those people doing a lot of walking in their day-to-day working routine.

He notes that the Hi-PA toecaps will not transmit electricity or cause sparks so they are much safer when working around electricity or flammable materials.

One of the major benefits of the Hi-PA toecap is that it will not trigger metal detectors or security alarms so security guards can wear them with complete satisfaction and since the Hi-PA toecap is completely clear says Nichols, "it can be X-rayed, which will be another bonus for companies processing precious metals and stones".

According to the company, the Hi-PA toecap will be released in a range of shoes, which will all feature the Trisole Comfort Technology soling system with Poron inserts in the sole that is designed to reduce stress and shock to the feet, knees, hips, joints and lower back.