[james prime]

Hi Stephen

This sounds great. As someone who came up through the tools and still wears these zip-up style boots daily, I think it would be beneficial to have more supportive footwear available as an option, at the very least.

Unfortunately, our company moved away from this style of boot several years ago on the basis that none of the options available meet dielectric or ASTM F2412 electrostatic standards. Weather that was a falsehood to hide the fact that the rigid boots often are better designed so cost more we will never know.

Interestingly, we have not seen the same level of ankle injuries that your company has experienced with these looser-fitting boots, which is somewhat surprising. However, we recently had an injury within one of our Transmission Vegetation crews (where electrically tested boots are not required) involving a worker wearing highly supportive and secure Crispi chainsaw boots. It appears that the rigidity and support of the boot may have limited ankle movement, resulting in a severe leg fracture during what would otherwise have been a relatively simple turning or twisting movement.

Just some food for thought. It’s encouraging to see a company taking a fresh look at footwear options and moving in what appears to be a positive direction.

[Stephen Small]

Thanks James

appreciate the reply

[Dan Quinn]

Hi Stephen,

We supply our Field teams specifically our OH teams with these types of boots, they are at a cost premium so have set an expectation that staff must get 2 years out of them. We have gone through Meindl, Andrews, Arbtech, cloggers and now Haix boots.

Meindl – Great boot and the team’s preferred choice, we have been informed by the supplier that these will no longer be supplied to New Zealand

Andrews – Great boots but the soft sole was wearing out and costing a small fortune to repair by Andrews( note: we still allow our Arborists to use these boots, they are a great chainsaw boot)

Arbtech – solid boot has been well adopted through out the team slowly becoming the preferred choice over the Meindl, comes with a Vibram sole and seems to of lasted roughly 2 years

Clogger – didn’t last very long, and we didn’t receive positive feedback on the comfort

Haix – this will be our replacement to the Meindl, it is a little bit stiffer, it has the Vibram sole and a better price point than the boots named above. we have had staff use these boots in the past and received positive feedback.

The staff that have access to these boots can spend a lot of time in the Marlborough sounds walking up steep terrain, or in wet ground conditions, so for them to last 2 years is pretty impressive. As you are aware Field staff pretty much live in their boots so comfort is very important.

We use Clogger or tree tools for the Haix and tree hub for the Arbtech boots. Ny questions please let me know.

Thanks,

Dan

[Stephen Small]

Thanks Dan

Great information, and brand options we hadn’t considered yet!

Cheers

Stephen.