Slip and Fall: Rating Men’s Work Footwear

Slip and Falls

Slips and falls due to snow and ice on sidewalks can lead to lasting injuries.  A city of Toronto study found that between 2006 and 2015, there were almost 30,000 emergency department visits and 2,800 hospitalization among Toronto residents from falls on snow or ice.  These injuries cost the province healthcare system close to $4,000,000 per year.

To help prevent slips we often rely of our trusted winter boots! Some can be quite expensive! But just how effective are these boots?  The world renowned Toronto Rehab Institute in their state of the art lab test how slip resistance several types of boots are. The results are not great! In fact 90% of footwear did not get their minimum ratings!

Below are the shoes which got their minimum grades:

Scoring

If a footwear passes an angle of 7 degrees (which means it will have a score of 7), then it passes their MAA test and is on the list with one snowflake!  That means the boots are able to go up a 7 degrees ramp covered with ice without slipping. They picked 7 as the minimum because it meets the accessibility guidelines in Ontario for a curb ramp. And they want you to at least be able to walk up these ramps.

If footwear has a score of 11 then it will get 2 snowflakes and if it reaches 15 or above, it will receive 3 snowflakes!

Men’s Work Footwear