What kind of Shoes should Electricians Wear?

Working as an electrician is not like those 9regular jobs because here, you have to fight with death every minute of the day.

And when it comes to the savior, the equipment for the safety you need is the shoes! Wait, shoes? Yes, shoes are the gears that reduce electrical hazards or chances of electrical shock. But what kind of shoes should electricians wear?

What shoes are a no-no for them? No worries, I am here at your service! It will tell you which shoes you need depending on your working sector as an electrician.

What Shoes should an Electrician Wear?

If you are an electrician, you already know how shoes protect you from getting injured. In cases, footwear can help you avoid unwanted fire hazards too. If you are in search of thorough protection, I would love to recommend you EH polymeric boots.

These are great in terms of electrical resistance. Along with this, you get better protection from these. You will see some electrical wearing regular leather shoes that have EH hazard marking. In this case, the outsole is with electrical isolation.

But if you want the utmost perfection, you must rely on polymeric overshoes! In easier terms, you can wear anything that OSHA approves for electricians. Shoes are important, only footwear won’t be able to protect you if you are missing out on the other necessary safety requisite.

If you are new, check out the Electrician Safety Equipment List to know what else you need to protect when you are up for electrical work.

The Right Footwear for Electricians

Electrical shock is a common scenario and to keep away from this, electricians should wear footwear that provides electrical hazard protection.

According to OSHA standards, the footwear you pick should be capable of withstanding 18,000 volts for every minute, and in this period; it cannot transfer the shock of your body.

Types of Electrician Shoes

Are you planning to gather all the safety equipment for your electrician job? Well, one of the very first necessities is to get the right shoes! Oh, do electricians wear special shoes for electrical work?

Or any regular shoe will do the job? In short, yes, they do use special shoes. And here, we will discuss three different types of footwear for electricians!

Conductive Shoes

Among all the electrician footwear, conductive is specially designed for the places where you need to deal with static electricity. There are situations when you encounter a job where you need to confront the buildup of static electricity on your body.

In such sectors, you have to deal with explosive materials. Along with this, volatile materials are very common to make you unprotected. But when it comes to safeguarding the electricians from electric injuries occurred by the accumulation of static electricity, you can rely on conductive shoes.

The construction material of the conductive footwear is cement. As a result, there is no resistance at all! It works by reducing the static electricity buildup from all sorts of movements.

On the other hand, if you are talking about the static electricity spark and its ignition by dissipating static electricity from your body directly to the ground-conduction footwear works incredibly.

Have a look at the Best Electrician Shoes to pick up the best deal for you! However, if you are dealing with live charge or electrical equipment, I don’t recommend you wear these shoes.

Non-Conductive Shoes

Now that we already know about conductive shoes, we will discuss conductive shoes. These are mostly known as the secondary source of protection. If any worker or electrician comes in contact with the live electrical circuits, there’s a chance of injury.

And the non-conductive shoes help in safeguarding them from such injuries. These come with an EH rating added. If this is a new term for you, let me talk a little about it. By this rating, we understand that the shoes are constructed with steel.

In some cases, composite toes are also used. And the job of this footwear is to lessen the potential electric shock. As these are metal-safe shoes, you are well-protected already. These are enclosed with non-conductive components.

So, if there are any live circuits present, you can safeguard yourself with the non-conductive footwear.

However, if you are in a venue where there’s a chance of slippage or falling, I would suggest you get your hands on the rubber outsole footwear. These can protect better undoubtedly.

Antistatic Footwear

Have you ever seen any working area that is sensitive to static electricity? If someone is currently working in such an area, what shoes should an electrician wear? Yes, you guessed right- the antistatic footwear!

The name says it all, isn’t it? The construction of this footwear is done in a way that it can easily dissimilate the buildup of static electricity from your body.

Along with this, the boots help in providing you a necessary resistance level to the electrical hazard that can occur via live circuits.

Leather vs. Rubber: Which is Better

This question can be easily answered if you talk about the material requirement for electrical boots. The electrical resistance capacity is not connected to the material of your boots or shoes. However, there are thing so many things to talk about when it comes to leather vs. rubber battle.

There are several pieces of research on contact resistance between the body and the ground. According to the research, rubber works amazingly when it comes to resisting electricity. Compared to leather, rubber is an improved insulating material for this purpose.

On the other hand, you have to get your eyes on facts regarding electrons here too. Electricity movement refers to electron movements. However, rubber has no free electrons. As a result, rubber isn’t capable of conducting electricity!

Can Electricians wear Steel-toe Boots? 

According to OSHA, wearing steel-toe boots as an electrician isn’t hazardous at all. All you need is to be careful that the conductive part of your footwear is not connected or in contact with the foot of the employee. Unless it is exposed on the outside of the footwear, the steel-toe boots are completely safe for the electricians.

Additional Features

Any boots or shoes made for the electricians will afford you the requirements that an electrician needs. Let’s talk about the other features you need to look for when it comes to picking up a pair of footwear as an electrician.

• The shoes must have a good-grade insole. It keeps the worker safe and comfortable.
• Water-resistance shoes are always recommended because whenever it comes to the water-electricity mix-up, a hazard occurs.
• As comfort is necessary, make sure the shoes are the right fit; not too tight not too loose.

Wrap Up

Picking up the right shoe as an electrical isn’t easy. You have to meet so many standards and requirements that you forget about comfort.

And this is why I recommend you pick up the one you are most comfortable with. Safety is necessary but so is comfort. Choose wisely, my friend.