Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom.
Appl Ergon. 2021 Apr;92:103333. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103333. Epub 2020 Dec 21.
This paper presents the results of an extensive survey concerning the experience of safety footwear end-users. Safety footwear has been in widespread use across many industries worldwide since the 1970s, and has become an essential part of industrial Personal Protective Equipment. The number of women entering predominantly male industrial environments, and requiring safety footwear is rising, and this is accompanied by anecdotal reports of ill-fitting and uncomfortable footwear. This research proactively compares the opinions of women and men regarding their experience of safety footwear. A systematically designed survey aims to substantiate previously anecdotal knowledge around safety footwear, including key drivers for end-user purchases, wear habits and comfort issues (establishing any differences between women and men). Chi-squared testing was used to assess statistical significance and ensure robustness of findings. The responses and resulting analysis confirmed that comfort and fit were key drivers for all end users; women and men have different wear habits (women wear their safety footwear less frequently and for shorter periods of time than men - likely due to the reported comfort issues); a significant proportion of women (60%) found their safety footwear less comfortable than their regular footwear, however, 45% of men also reported the same, which has not been reported anecdotally. In general, the users of safety footwear accepted a level of discomfort in at least one area of the foot before deeming footwear 'uncomfortable'. The significant analysis performed on the captured data has, to the authors knowledge, never before been undertaken for this breadth of industry, age and gender with 632 responses received. This makes it the largest study of this field to date.
本文介绍了一项针对安全鞋终端用户体验的广泛调查结果。自 20 世纪 70 年代以来,安全鞋在全球许多行业得到了广泛应用,已成为工业个人防护设备的重要组成部分。越来越多的女性进入以男性为主的工业环境并需要安全鞋,同时也有一些传闻称这些女性的鞋子不合脚且穿着不舒服。本研究主动比较了女性和男性对安全鞋使用体验的看法。一项系统设计的调查旨在证实安全鞋的一些传闻,包括终端用户购买、穿着习惯和舒适度等关键驱动因素(确定女性和男性之间的差异)。卡方检验用于评估统计显著性并确保研究结果的稳健性。调查结果分析表明,舒适度和贴合度是所有终端用户的关键驱动因素;女性和男性的穿着习惯不同(女性比男性更频繁、更短时间地穿着安全鞋,可能是因为舒适度问题);相当一部分女性(60%)认为她们的安全鞋不如普通鞋舒适,但也有 45%的男性表示同样的情况,这在传闻中并未提及。总的来说,安全鞋使用者在认为鞋子“不舒服”之前,会接受脚部至少一个区域的一定程度的不适。这项对所采集数据进行的重要分析,就作者所知,以前从未在如此广泛的行业、年龄和性别范围内进行过,共收到了 632 份回复。这使得它成为迄今为止该领域规模最大的研究。