I offer the following taken from Demolition News of 17/04/2012 for your consideration. The statement below has been made anonymous. XXX, Senior SHE Manager for XXX said: “It is true that in XXX, we've decided to swap round bootlaces for flat ones. This is as a result of discussions with some of our employees as part of an incident investigation, when it was suggested that round laces were prone to come undone more often than flat laces, so we decided to change them. It might sound like a small thing, but, ultimately, we want to ensure our employees’ work environment is as safe as possible and explore every option to ensure this is the case, including how to cut injuries from trips, slips and falls. It’s something that we’ve done within National Contracting, for now, but we’ve shared our findings with the wider XXX business, as well as the Mineral Products Association’s Contracting safety committee and the Highways Agency.”

Better than banning round laces would be to teach them to tie the laces better. Many (possibly most) people tie their laces in what is (topologically) a granny knot. If you tie them as a reef knot and you get a more reliable knot. It's easy to check - tie your laces as normal, but loosely. Pull the loops through so you have just the knot and straight ends, then tease it apart and see if you have a granny knot or a reef knot. If you have a granny it's just a case or relearning how you tie your laces - if you used to start with right over left simply start with left over right and do the rest the same.

I always get my Mum to do mine before I go out!

Now I understand why some people prefer rigger boots..........

Engineer the problem out - Have velcro fastenings only for work boots! Just a thought - Ill get my coat!

But if you followed the last two suggestions how would anybody be able to pick themselves up by their bootlaces?

Having worked for this company in another life this does not surprise me!! Ron - Riggers were outlawed years ago, I had to take mine home, but they are great to use when gardening

Used lace in Zips for years in Germany - never had any issues with them coming undone. Great while on exercise as you could get out of you maggot and have your boots on in seconds Fond memories!

Hi Chaps and Chappess's, following on from Carol B........... Rigger Boots are outlawed?????? Did I miss the safety Footwear Regs as amended 2012? Perhaps the same regs outlaw round laces? You'll be telling me next that PA Testing is now a legal requirement? Or that there is such a thing as a FLT License? Or that it needs refreshing every 3 years? Where's the Daily Mail when you need it? Holmezy