Standard safety shoes provide protection from three main sources of foot injury.  They are falling objects, compression from rolling objects and punctures.  A standard safety shoe has an impact-resistant toe—usually steel—and non-skid soles with rubber or synthetic treads to prevent slips and falls.  Shoes with a metal insole or reinforced sole protects against puncture. 

Employees don’t want to wear steel toe shoes because of stories of a person being more seriously injured by the steel in the workboot.  To alleviate your concerns about the steel toe issue, standards have changed over the years when it comes to safety shoes.  Shoes are now safer and while a shoe might cause an injury, it’s similar to seat belts – more people are saved by wearing a seat belt than not.   

Shoe manufacturers realize that people are not going to wear heavy, ugly shoes.  Safety shoes now weigh only a few ounces more than regular shoes and they come in many styles, so there are fewer objections to wearing them.

The employer is mandated by OSHA regulation to decide what type of shoe will provide adequate protection against the workplace hazards, specify the minimum requirements that must be met, and require employees to comply, even if employees purchase their own work shoes.