Canadian Occupational Safety

17 2019 FEBRUARY/MARCH of media attention and had an imme- diate effect on the market, Fernie says. Retailers, manufacturers and consumers all took notice. "What was pretty dramatic was that the one-snowflake boots sold out across the country by Christmas." Retailers help promote the rating and some, such as Mark's, are major supporters, he adds. Addit iona lly, ma nu fac t u re r s started working with the TRI to make better boots. In winter 2018, instead of 10 per cent getting one snowflake, 20 per cent of the more than 200 boots they had on RateMyTreads.com at the time got one snowflake. "(Manufacturers) have clearly improved their product and they needed to improve it. Previously, the products were mostly designed for their graphic appearance. They had some aggressive-looking treads, and colours, names and marketing that made them look effective. But they could be quite useless," Fernie says. "You cannot tell whether you have a good boot by looking at it. You have to test it." To date, RateMyTreads.com has received millions of visits, and employers and safety managers are beginning to pay attention. For exam- ple, Canada Post is recommending that its 60,000 couriers all wear boots that tested at the top of the snowflake rating. Other organizations, such as police and ambulance services, are using the snowflake scale as a guide for the footwear they purchase, too. "Some are very enthusiastic and I think that's encouraging. If eventu- ally we can demonstrate on a larger sample — because now the sample is too small — that it's worth buying good winter footwear for your staff and you'll actually save money, that would be brilliant. It would change the market considerably." Summers agrees, saying many employers who come to Mark's are aware of the snowflake rating. The retailer works with a lot of large industrial employers across the coun- try, and they have often expressed concern about winter safety. "The injuries caused by slipping on ice last year were terrible. There was ice all across Canada," he says, adding some of their customers are gas metre readers and utility workers. "They walk around people's homes, and you never know what they're going to be walking onto." Ells, who is on the board of directors of ASTM, says the TRI has done a good job of promoting the snowflake rating system and, from the inquiries Vibram has had, it's clear that awareness of it has flowed into the United States. "If you're a safety professional and something like the snowflake rating system comes to light, with the amount of publicity it got, I have to think that the vast majority of safety directors paid attention and probably did a bit of research. It's all about minimizing the negative effects we all deal with," he says. WHAT'S NEXT? Currently, there is no standard for slip-resistance in the winter. That absence is largely due to the sheer dif- ficulty of devising a standard when huge variations in weather conditions have to be considered, Summers says. "No two slips are alike; no two incidents are alike. The environments change all the time, in particular in ice and snow," he says, noting that in winter there can be completely dif- ferent foot surfaces around an office building depending on the strength of the sun, wind direction and presence of snow. "All the way around a build- ing, you can be faced with four to five environments and challenges. So how does any one type of boot deal with all that? This is the reason it has been so challenging for people and why there aren't a lot of standards in place." Moreover, while the TR I has been able to devise a reliable test- ing method, its lab is not the kind of facility others could easily reproduce. "At the moment, our testing is quite expensive, rather specialist," Fernie says. "It's not a simple piece of equip- ment. If you develop a standard, you try to make something that's afford- able so that people can test to that standard in their own countries, in their own companies." Fernie, who represents Canada at the International Standards Organi- zation (ISO), says the TRI does a great deal of work with standards bodies in all sorts of areas. It is currently working on the snowflake testing lab, aiming to miniaturize it and make it more economical. It also plans to automate some aspects. "It takes a long time to change stan- dards and introduce new standards," he says. "But we expect and hope that what we do will eventually be adopted as the standard." Fernie says they are now, for the first time, testing boots that rate two snowflakes. They have also seen pro- totypes that achieve three. "And in our own laboratories, with our own technologies, we have been able to achieve a five on this (snow- flake rating). But we haven't managed to get those into working, prac- tical shoes that don't wear out. Wear is one of the issues." Manufacturers are experimenting with new materials — softer rubbers, for example — and with different tread patterns. Some companies, like Mark's, are blending the Arctic Ice and Green Diamond technologies. Researchers at the TRI are also doing work on pavement design and floors. They plan to start testing indoor footwear, too, Fernie says, because there are a lot of incidents with people slipping on wet floors in hospitals and greasy floors in restaurants. There's more coming to RateMy- Treads.com, as well, he says. They want to add a "wear factor" — a mea- sure of how long particular boots maintain good adhesion — and a recommendation for when the boots should be replaced. "That has been quite difficult to accumulate," Fernie says. "But we'll get there." COS Linda Johnson is a Toronto-based freelance journalist who has been writing for COS for eight years. FOR WOMEN • Dakota Composite Toe, Composite Plate, Felt Pack Winter Boots (MAA score: 8) • Dakota Composite Toe, Composite Plate, Transitional Work Boots (MAA score: 8) FOR MEN • Dakota 8527 STSP Leather Winter Boot (MAA score: 10) • Dakota 8901 Composite Toe, Composite Plate, HD3 Waterproof Work Boots (MAA score: 9) • Dakota Oil-Resistant T-Max Anti-slip Transitional Boots (MAA score: 9) • Wolverine Glacier CSA (MAA score: 8) • Wolverine Glacier Side Zip CSA (MAA score: 8) • Royer Agility Arctic Grip Collection Model Number 5727AG (MAA score: 8). Below is a list of the best winter work boots for slip-resistance. The higher the score, the better the traction and worker protection. Source: RateMyTreads.com TOP-RATED FOOTWEAR THIN ICE

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