hi,

the guys in our company have been told they must wear safety shoes at all times, even when collecting paperwork from office (although office staff dont wear them). A few of the guys have complained because if there are any risks in the office then surely everyone should be wearing them. the companies response has been to send a letter to the guys stating that safety shoes are part of the uniform and must be worn. they have even said that they have to wear them if they enter the office before their scheduled start time.

Can they do this?

there isnt any provision to change. they have to do it in their vans.

no, managers and supervisors have been told they dont have to wear them at all. 

the health and safety woman visited a site in open toed shoes.

they have a range of boots available but the complaint is based on the fact they have to wear them to enter the office to collect time sheets.

I woulld say the real issue here is not that your site employees are asked continue to wear safety shoes when visiting offices, it's that your office employees do not wear safety shoes while visiting sites. That is the issue you need to address. 

I assume that the problem here is that the office and their place of work are not just next-door. Therefore, they have to drive from the site where they are working to the office, and in order to do this safely and comfortably they may change out of their safety shoes into their normal shoes, and now have to change back into their safety shoes to enter the office?

In which case it is ridiculous. There is no way seeing someone in safety shoes in the office is in any way a sufficient way of ensuring they are doing so on site. Especialy if they have to remove them in order to drive to the site they are working in.

If they (the management) say this is as H&S matter they are clearly wrong as they are not applying the same controls for different types of staff in the sane areas.

If it a matter of uniform then it’s a bit different as organisations can insist on a dress code or uniform as long as it is reasonable and relates to the job.

Interestingly the matter of dress codes or uniforms was raised during the summer on the internet, when a woman complained about an employer insisting she wear high heels as these were part of the dress code and gave the right impression to visitors to the organisation.  

General consensuses (including comments by lawyers) were that this was wrong on the grounds that it was:

• Discriminatory as it only applied to female employees not males
• Inappropriate as it did not relate to the job; being “sexy” was not part of the job, so you could not really force them to wear them.

In this case there is clear discrimination as only some of the staff, have to wear a “smart” uniform and you could ask the question does wearing safety shoes make the delivery guys look “smarter” than a normal pair of shoes.

Another thought has arisen are the delivery people paid by the hour or by the delivery ie are they changing their shoes on the own time?

As I'm typing this im sitting in the office wearing safety boots. Worn them on and off for over 25 years and feel odd if I don't! No problems driving! 

In my previous job I had plennty of chats with delivery drivers making deliveries via the warehouse with no safety boots, which are 'always in the van'.

As others have mentioned its a blanket policy to ensure compliance of wearing PPE, not the best approach but it is what it is. If they make it part of the uniform policy then employees are required to adhear to said policy.

I can see your frustration here or lack of clarity from management!  My question would be are you in a position where you should be wearing safety boots at all times anyway, i.e. trade or skilled workforce who are more likely to be at risk from injury?  Officer workers are at a much lower risk to foot injury, however if they where to enter an area like a factory floor or storage facility and have duties where they have to undertake manual handling activities, use pallet trucks etc then they should be issued with safety boots and must wear them before entering such locations or undertaking tasks.  How does the company display PPE signage, is it clear what level of PPE is required for each area you are in?  Im assuming there is no signage up in the offices you visit!!

Yup !!! You're right.. Prevention is better than cure!!!!

Originally Posted by: Kate

I don't see any reason they couldn't be both PPE and uniform.

Yes they can be both but their role as PPE takes precedent
over their role as a uniform. So if they were genuinely PPE, then everybody should be wearing, not just the warehouse guys.