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Dielectric protective footwear

  • Dielectric protective footwear

    Posted by colin-allenconnetics-co-nz on 27 October 2021 at 3:42 pm

    Hi team, we have an issue with Dielectric footwear. Our company directive is to wear dielectric gumboots for all work carried out in an EPZ. I’ve had feedback from our team about ankle and foot injuries while wearing them especially during the summer months in high temperatures.

    The issue is the risk – is the risk of foot/ankle injuries greater than the risk of electrical shock?

    So… what is the solution? Are there electrically safe footwear that also provide a level of comfort? What does your company/network use/specify?

    Shaun Colley replied 3 years, 2 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • Stephen Small

    Member
    5 November 2021 at 6:26 am

    Hi Colin

    We do not use gumboots for climbing or working in EWPS due to their weak instep strength and lack of lateral ankle support.

    There are dielectric-rated boots available, but we don’t issue them either:

    1. they do not give the same level of protection as rated insulated mats.

    2. to be effective they need to be fastidiously clean and dry (just like insulated gloves) and that is not possible for us working where there are high levels of moisture from irrigation in spring/summer and rain/snow/mud in the winter.

    3. When we trialed the boots they failed testing within 18-24 months, so cost was unreasonable for the protection.

    feel free to contact me for detailed chat!

    Cheers

    Stephen

  • Shaun Colley

    Member
    22 November 2021 at 2:01 pm

    We have gone away from dielectric only to a mixture of EH and dielectric.

    Dielectric gumboots for wet ground situations and EH for most other works.

    If you are in an EPZ what’s the point of dielectric as well?

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