Footwear for cold work: a limited questionnaire survey

This questionnaire survey was initiated to acquire information for prepration of a series of field studies. The paper deals with questions that were related to the thermal responses of the feet and footwear performance. The questionnaire was sent to a harbour, a telecommunication company and a customs office. At the harbour most of the workers used footwear with warm lining during winter. Half of them used also footwear without lining occasionally or regularly. The telecommunication workers used warm boots and one of them used footwear without lining occasionally while at customs all the workers regularly wore footwear without lining. Most cold injuries were reported in toes. Half of the workers were dissatisfied with their clothing. The footwear was considered to be the worst. 47 % of the workers (harbour 50 %, telecommunication 31 % and customs 75 %) had experienced problems with footwear in the cold climate. The most common problems connected with footwear were feeling cold in feet (30 of 43) followed by risk to slip (16) and wet (15) or sweaty (12) feet. Slipping was considered as the next biggest problem after cold: 30 workers had slipped and 22 had fallen during last two winter seasons. In five cases falls had ended with an injury: ligament injury, caudal vertebrae contusion, muscle strain and tooth injury, foot sprain and lumbago. According to the responders the problem with footwear was low insulation that resulted in cold feet. Better communication between workers and employers could be helpful for purchasing in footwear according to the workers’ needs. Simultaneously, it requires more knowledge and information on products and insulation requirements in various conditions. (Less)