Work smarter

Let’s all spare a thought for French farmers back in the 17th century. (Stay with me…) Why? Well, they were the poor souls who had to wear the very first safety boots. They were called ‘Sabots’ (a combination of ‘savate’ and ‘botte’ – French for ‘shoe’ and ‘boot.’) And they were literally hollowed out blocks of wood to protect their feet from being crushed by the hooves of their cattle. Zero flexibility, zero cushioning and brutally heavy. It’s fair to say they wouldn’t have bagged any prizes at the annual Le Français rural PPE innovation awards…

And while leaps forward in design, materials and testing has since led to safety boots delivering amazing levels of comfort and protection, the average work boot still acts as passive PPE – a shield against impact, penetration and contaminants. But now a new safety footwear category is evolving. No, not rocket boots. That wouldn’t be very safe would it? And to be honest, some of the stuff being developed at the moment is way more advanced. Seriously.

In this article, we’ll be taking a look at some of the ideas being cooked up in testing houses and manufacturing facilities across the globe – because some of it is pretty incredible.

What makes safety footwear smart?

Smart safety footwear is what happens when protective boots are embedded with top-level sensor and connectivity technology. And excitingly, this integrated and intelligent tech is taking many forms, and therefore it could innovate safety, foot comfort and well-being in lots of different ways. They include:

• Pressure sensors embedded in the sole
• Gyroscopes and accelerometers to track movement and balance
• Adaptive and dynamic-fit footwear
• Bluetooth connectivity within footwear
• Footwear that notifies the wearer of compromised components

We know – it sounds like safety footwear meets Iron Man. But this is no movie – it’s real tech, and it’s happening right now. And the most exciting thing is that smart safety footwear isn’t just tech for tech’s sake. It’s intelligent, preventative PPE, which can actively reduce workplace dangers before they arise, and in the event of an incident occurring, report on and respond to them with incredible speed.

And this is why V12 Footwear are getting involved in a big way on this topic. We’re part of a new collaboration with the University of Bath centred around researching SMART safety footwear engineering and development. V12 are hugely excited to be Bath University’s real-world industry partner in this flagship design and business project, because as innovators in the safety footwear sector, it’s right where we want to be: working with the minds of the future to better innovate the footwear of the future.

But while we wait for the results of this project to emerge, let’s take a look and review what else is currently being developed in the way of smart safety footwear.

Coming to our sensors

One of the most exciting aspects of smart safety footwear being developed is a sensor-driven pressure mapping insole.

These super smart sensors can monitor the foot’s weight distribution throughout the day to identify areas of imbalance, over-heating or fatigue. Now historically, this kind of heat sensor work could only be done with a specialist sizing scanner in a room with a man usually called Nigel, but to have live data on the way working feet are acting within footwear could be a total foot health and comfort game-changer. After all, the average safety boot wearer takes over 12,000 steps per day, so the more we know about how we optimise and support foot comfort, the better.

And this technology has a huge benefit for female safety boot wearers in particular. 

A LOT of women have spent many years putting up with ‘unisex’ safety footwear (essentially designed for the male foot) that rarely fits, leads to slips, strain, instability and pain – but smart scanning integration can take these long-ignored issues and turn them into measurable data, so female employees can clearly and empirically highlight poor fit to their Health and Safety contact.

Staying alert

Cutting-edge safety footwear with motion sensors and gyroscopic technology is now emerging, with very exciting potential. These crazily clever systems can track the wearer’s gait consistency and balance, detect instability or even near-miss slips, as well as use built-in accelerometers to detect sudden falls or impacts and send an alert to their safety team.

Even more amazing is that this footwear can monitor posture during lifting or climbing, and even trigger alert systems when movement patterns suggest an injury risk, because the data they’ve captured means the algorithm working in the background has learnt the wearer’s normal patterns of movement.

Specialist footwear brands such as Monitor are producing some highly innovative protective footwear solutions along this line, using embedding sensors and communication systems so the boot basically becomes an SOS beacon – and for vulnerable lone workers, this could be a literal life-saver. Their SMART boot even digitally stores the wearer’s blood type and emergency contacts.

These SMART features could be especially important in industries like construction, where falls from height are a leading cause of injury and death. Figures on these types of injuries and fatalities are appearing broadly and stubbornly flat – and maybe these accident stats will only start to move by embracing these types of ground-breaking innovations.

Staying connected

Footwear that communicates with the wearer is also an exciting innovation. Alert systems are being developed that will actually notify the wearer of fatigue accumulation and even deteriorating grip. Imagine a safety boot that can diagnose its wearer’s – and its own – workplace safety performance! A health and safety manager’s dream – having PPE as a proactive risk management tool, and a valuable asset for the wearer to keep their safety optimised.

Adaptive fit

Some really cool concepts are emerging around how safety boots provide comfort too. Footwear that actively and dynamically adapts its fit throughout the day is now becoming a reality, spearheaded by brands like Base Protection. Their i-daptive smart system literally behaves like an active suspension that cushions and realigns the axis of the foot depending on where it’s being placed in the footwear.

Again, this type of footwear innovation could be transformational in an inclusive sense. For example, women who experience pregnancy and transition through the menopause can experience a lot of changes in their feet size. These include foot swelling due to changing hormone levels as well as ligament loosening from increased pressure, so footwear built with these types of intelligent adaptive cushioning systems could spell big well-being benefits.

The future looks smart

If you think some of the ideas in this article are ‘out-there,’ you should wait until you hear what kind of blue sky thinking protypes are being dreamt up by engineers at the moment. They include:

• Footwear that can actually slow down a connected onsite vehicle before it collides with the wearer
• Footwear technology that harnesses walking energy and turns it into renewable energy.
• There’s even a safety boot in the pipeline that can do your self-assessment tax return for you. (ok we made that one up…)

The really great thing about all this innovation? Safety footwear looks set to become a preventative PPE solution, actively reducing or removing the threat of discomfort and danger before it happens. And that’s a pretty exciting prospect.

Finally, these technological progressions in PPE also show the outstanding results which occur when we use human intelligence to maximise artificial intelligence. The combination of the two could and should result in a workplace totally optimised for health and safety. And if this type of technology can also support comfort and well-being by giving workers immediate and dynamic support, the sky’s the limit for everyone’s well-being and performance.

Matthew Roberts is content creator at V12 Footwear. For more information, visit www.V12footwear.com