Afternoon all, Rigger boots have been pretty much banned with the main construction groups, and with winter closing in my normal boots just dont cut it. Can anyone advise me of a suitable boot? That is high enough to not have water/muck coming in over the top and also water proof and not wellies! I have been on Mr. Google for the last hour looking through supplier after supplier to no avail. Cheers in advance

Dear Lawlee45239, you state "pretty much banned" by major contractors, not by legislation its not.. Ive heard this many times over recent years ,particulary at my previous employment where i was also responsible for issue and record of staff ppe. The primary reason behind restricted use of riggers is that they provide little ankle restraint and thus to drive accident stats down (thinking cynically, like gloves/glasses requirements) the major contractors are trying to enforce alternate suitable footwear. Strictly speaking they should demonstrate by way of risk assessment why you cant wear riggers, and if so provide you with the appropirate equipment.. sorry no answer for you here.. by the way ive got both ankle laceups and riggers in my boot!!

Have a look here, they have a specific site dedicated to waterproof safety boots.

I'm a safety advisor for a major contractor and I'm happy to say that we have not banned them, I've got a a pair myself as well as lace ups. As for ankle support I can't recall ever seeing that in the EN spec for boots, soles, pentration protection, chemical resistance etc are covered but not ankle support, so how can anyone show that a boot provides "adequate" support if no one knows what the optimum level is and what a particular boot provides? Or is it just a case of someone set this particular rabbit running and eveyone is following it without showing any evidence?

My company followed the rest and banned Rigger boots. I was tasked with finding a replacement, as most of the guys liked the Rigger for its ease of getting on and off; I looked for a lace up boot that could fit the bill. I found a boot that was, I was told, was the offshore replacement. I got this boot from Cromwell PPE supplier. They are a high lace up, waterproof boot with a side zip enabling quick on and off when needed.

Follow the link to clad safety. They have a good range of waterproof work boots with good ankle protection such as the 'Exploration high boot' http://cladsafety.co.uk/assets/2015-Catalogue.pdf Hope this helps

Chris, I wonder if you can see what I see in this statement?

This an old chestnut & has been discussed many times with the usual end result e.g. there is no independent scientific evidence to show that ankle support* is really needed and the ban is because of some mysterious hidden cause thereafter everybody now follows the band wagon [* 99.999 and more % of the worlds population today still get about without ankle support [look at fashionable high-heals!!!] with no harm what so ever even in the worst conditions e.g. war [note Afghanistan & similar where the locals wear sandal's whilst fighting in very hazardous conditions] so there must be another agenda somewhere my advice is to do your best to educate and go from there: And the welder issue is very true - but those who ban things do not get hot metal down their shoe!

quote=Invictus] Stands out like a welder hopping around trying to hget his boot off.