Posted By David Waterton Hi hopefully someone has come accross this before. We are a small local authority social work dep't in darkest scotland. we do not have many service users from ethnic backgrounds. However we anticipate we will have to work with this group in the future. My concern is staff being asked not to wear outdoor shoes in a service users home. We instruct staff that they should always wear suitable foot wear and that under no circumstances should they go bare foot or wear slippers in a service users home. Thus what do we do in instances above. Would wearing plastic type shoe covers as used by staff in swimming pools over shoes be acceptable?

Posted By Jay Joshi You have not stated what particular aspect of wearing footwear may pose problems. Is it to do with the "leather" in the footwear, which some Hindus would not permit either in the house or more likely, in room(s) where they worship. In that case, non-leather footwear can be a solution. Overshoes will not be a solution as it is the cattle based leather in shoes that Hindu's object to. A variation of this is the "custom" that footwear brings into the house germs & is unhygienic and needs to be kept "seperately"/outside the living areas. These customs were more relevant in the age when public health & sanitation was poor and is not applicable now in developed countries, but for some, the custom carries on regardless. Attitudes will vary dependiong upon the age & background of groups you have referred to. Not all ethinic minorities hold on to these beliefs & customs. It may be better to find out the "reasons" for not allowing footwear from the ethnic minority community based organisations and then devise control measures so that the health & safety of your employees is not compromised.