Article: Preventing injuries for a successful future

Simon Ash, UK Sales Manager at HAIX

In the UK, the forestry sector is worth almost £2 billion annually, employing over 43,000 people. For the sector to keep achieving this kind of success, workers need to be properly protected in order to prevent costly accidents and injuries and to keep productivity levels high.

The gruelling tasks todays forestry workers undertake everyday, means that they are increasingly exposed to risks that could impact health and wellbeing but what are the most prevalent injuries and how can safety boots help to prevent these?

Disorders

In 2015/16, in the forestry, agricultural and fishing industry, there were an estimated 15,000 cases of non-fatal injuries and 54% were musculoskeletal disorders, (MSD).

The high level of MSDs in forestry is alarming and could be due to the everyday tasks such as carrying heavy loads, using machinery possibly with a fatigued posture and spending long periods of time in safety boots, walking on rough terrains. A particular set of MSD injuries that could develop because of this are work related lower limb disorders (WRLLD).

WRLLDs can affect the legs and feet and in 2009, an estimated 94,000 people in Britain suffered from a lower limb disorder caused or made worse by their work. The most common WRLLDs are:

• Stress fracture- this is caused by high impact and weight bearing activities.
• Heel Pain- this includes the injury, plantar fasciitis that is caused by a repeated high impact movement.
• Morton’s Neuroma- This can occur when there is an increased pressure on the toes.

Invest in boots

The footwear you choose plays an important part in ensuring your risk of injury is reduced. Recently, a false footwear economy has developed and individuals have purchased low cost safety boots that lack the required protection. These models might be cheaper but feet could be exposed to repeated stress which can only lead to painful injuries.

The best protection is found in footwear that is compliant with the government standard EN ISO 20345: 2011 and incorporates the right safety features, specifically designed for foresters such as chainsaw cut protection, safety toe caps and sturdy anti slip soles.

To ensure you are protected with the best safety features, HAIX has a global reputation for producing high specification safety footwear. The company is committed to developing functional features in safety footwear to meet end user demand, continually setting new trends and standards. In each pair of boots, HAIX uses the latest materials and footwear technology to ensure footwear offers comfort, protection and cutting-edge design.

Investing in high quality footwear won’t only help prevent and improve foot problems, it will also be effective financially, limiting the amount of times boots must be replaced.

Stepping forward

Wellbeing starts from the feet up and paying attention to your boots, ensuring you are wearing the correct safety footwear with the right features for forestry could mean you stay healthy and pain-free, in and out of the forest.

For more information visit, https://www.haix.co.uk