There’s an episode in the movie, “The Shawshank Redemption,” in which the main character, Andy DuFresne, walks out of the warden’s office wearing shiny, spit-polished black shoes, which he plans to wear after his escape (along with the warden’s suit under his prison uniform).
As Andy is shown walking through the prison, the narrator observes how it’s not often anyone looks at a man’s shoes. Well, I’m suggesting here that cleaning contractors start looking more often at their employees’ footwear.
You may have noticed in last month’s issue a letter to the editor from Ray Staniszewski of Ray’s Sewer and Plumbing of Lockport, Ill. He criticized us (rightly so) for printing pictures of drain-cleaning personnel working in the street in tennis shoes.
The fact is that we tell our photographers to make sure people being pictured are using and wearing proper safety equipment. Then we screen the pictures before going to press. Obviously we make a mistake once in awhile and a photo gets through that shows an unsafe practice.
Ray was right
Ray did us a favor in calling us out for showing workers in tennies. We should be more careful in photo selection. But the next logical question is: Why are contractors letting their people work with heavy, powered equipment without wearing steel-toed shoes, or at the very least high-quality work boots?
It doesn’t take much imagination to think of ways in which a person wearing tennis shoes could get hurt on a drain- or pipe-cleaning job. Think manhole cover. Or a heavy cable machine falling from the back of a truck. Or the tire of a backing vehicle. An errant waterjet nozzle putting out 4,000 psi. You get the idea.
OSHA regulations are not extremely specific on when employees must wear foot protection. The applicable OSHA standard, 1910.136(a), simply states, “The employer shall ensure that each affected employee uses protective footwear when working in areas where there is a danger of foot injuries due to falling or rolling objects, or objects piercing the sole, and where such employee’s feet are exposed to electrical hazards.”
So in some work situations, the question of whether an employee needs steel-toed or other protective footwear falls into a gray area. But an employer doesn’t need to leave those areas gray.
Setting the policy
As the employer, you can eliminate the ambiguity by creating an appropriate policy. Surely you can judge whether the work your people do, whether in homes, and commercial or industrial sites, or in the streets, involves the risk of foot injury.
If something heavy might fall on an employee’s foot, or if something heavy might roll over it, or if something sharp might poke a hole in it, or if there is a risk of electrical shock (as there most often is when powered equipment is used in wet environments), then employees should wear protective footwear. And you can make a policy that requires it.
Ray Staniszewski’s policy – as stated in his letter – is clear: Anyone who shows up for work in tennis shoes gets sent home. That’s uncomplicated. It’s unambiguous. One can bet it’s also effective.
The feet are at the foundation of almost everything your people do on the job. An employee with a crushed toe or broken foot is likely to miss a lot of time. Even that aside, why would we want to expose employees to serious or even crippling injury by allowing them to work without proper footwear?
Not professional
Quality work boots are cheap insurance. And, let’s face it, tennis shoes, running shoes, gym shoes and whatever do not connote professionalism in the drain-cleaning industry. Even if we can justify such footwear on the job from the perspective of minimal OSHA compliance, why would we allow it?
Is there any reason why any drain-cleaning employee, at any time, in any situation, should be seen and photographed wearing tennies?
