OSHA Standard on Footwear

There is no clear-cut standard or requirement that leather is preferred over any other type of material – but there are times when certain materials are certainly NOT appropriate. OSHA addresses the fact that socks worn with sandals make the sandals safer – NOT!  It seems that employees are adamant that the workplace should never infringe on their personal sense of foot fashion or comfort – but my argument has always been, what about safety?

Casual footwear that exposes employees’ feet to injury from dropped contaminated needles and sharps and exposure to pharmaceuticals and hazardous chemicals is a legitimate safety concern in healthcare facilities. OSHA says it is the employer’s responsibility to identify the hazard and situations where reasonable occupational exposure exists and to take measures to prevent the exposure.

One measure is to provide personal protective equipment for those exposure-prone situations. Another solution is to make the choice of footwear subject to the business’s dress code. OSHA has stated several times, “businesses can make this type of dress code determination without regard to a worker’s potential exposure to blood, OPIM or any other recognized hazards.”

When there is occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials (OPIM), the OSHA bloodborne pathogens standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030, requires the employer to provide, at no cost to the employee, APPROPRIATE personal protective equipment such as, but not limited to, gloves, gowns, eye protection, shoe covers, laboratory coats, or other equipment deemed necessary [See 29 CFR 1910.1030(d)(3)(i)]. Therefore, in circumstances where it is reasonable to anticipate that blood will contact the feet, employers must provide employees with protective gear to cover shoes which will be worn outside.  By definition, personal protective equipment will be considered “appropriate” only if it does not permit blood or other potentially infectious materials to pass through to or reach the employee’s work clothes, street clothes, undergarments, skin, eyes, mouth, or other mucous membranes under normal conditions of use and for the duration of time which the protective equipment will be used [See 29 CFR 1910.1030(d)(3)].

It is the employer’s responsibility to ascertain whether or not there is reasonable likelihood of exposure to blood or OPIM at their workplace.  Nonetheless, the determination of appropriate footwear in the absence of the exposure to blood, OPIM, pharmaceuticals and hazardous chemicals or any other recognized hazard would be up to the employer.  Plain and simple – OSHA does not forbid employers from setting protocol for prescribed work attire.  Nor does the agency say employees can’t wear casual footwear—including sandals, clogs and Crocs.  What they say is that you – as the employer – must conduct a workplace hazard evaluation, and if casual footwear is not protective of employees’ feet, the employer must then have a clear policy that casual footwear is not allowed.

Article written by Stephen Burt,  MFA, BS