Hi all! My company has just implemented an arc flash safety program, and have supplied arc flash PPE after doing a facility analysis (cat 2, 8 cal/cm2). I was the lucky one chosen to learn the standards and implement everything, which included taking the IEEE-1584 course here, along with the free course for arc flash labels.

Well, my company has for some time been providing work boots (or an allowance up to a specific dollar value) that must have both safety toes and the electrical hazard rating. This is great, and I've always bought leather composite toe boots, which are great for arc flash. Well, after I presented the arc flash PPE training, and the requirements for leather footwear with the electrical hazard rating, I was met with a few complications. Some coworkers have sneaker style safety toe shoes with the electrical hazard, but are made of synthetic materials. We also have one employee who is vegan and doesn't purchase or wear leather products.

I've tried to look, but haven't found any good results. Are there any arc flash footwear protectors that can be worn over top of synthetic footwear? Are there safety shoes/boots on the market without leather that would meet the arc flash requirements? Is there any other way to work aorund the leather requirement for footwear, or do we need to tell everyone that they MUST have leather footwear?

Thanks for any advice or help anyone can offer.

I don't think a "protector" would be allowed over a synthetic material unless the synthetic material had an arc rating. If you think about it, you can't wear a meltable fabric under arc rated clothing...so a similar case.

I'm not aware of arc rated footware...maybe some other folks are, but I would be curious as to materials.

Mike

While OSHA exempts shoes from the arc rated requirement, I have seen no exemption to the non-synthetic rule. All shoes I know of contain synthetic materials, but I think requiring the uppers to be non-meltable is reasonable. If there is an ANSI safety shoe with cotton uppers, I have not seen it. Perhaps vegans should seek a different line of work.

Thanks for the feedback so far, and I understand why this is so difficult without specific arc rated footwear on the market. I'm still going to search for other options, and I'll update back here if I ever find anything. I'd really like to find some alternate solution for the people who don't have or want leather. I'm already dealing with a lot of pushback and complaining about arc flash PPE in general, and I want to show that we're trying to help where we can.

Next we'll be needing vegan leatherette protector gloves.

Classic.

Mike