Posted By Ken Taylor
If the risk assessment shows that safety shoes are needed to control a significant risk, they should be provided free by the employer. So you need to consider whether the catering staff are carrying heavy items that could injure toes if dropped, whether the floors in their busy workplaces present slipping hazards - particularly if this brings them suddenly into contact with hot liquids, hot surfaces, flames, colleagues using sharp knives, etc.

You could conclude from the above that I have taken the view, for all the kitchens with which I have had dealings, that safety shoes should be provided.