OT steel plate metatarsel guards

Just curious...

How many of you have broken your foot bones and you feel is directly related to wearing OSHA required boots with steel plate metatarsel guards?

Husband broke foot a number of years ago, getting off a forklift at work. Bone broke exactly where the steel metatarsel plate ended.

Now factory & OSHA only requires a padded cushioned area over the metatarsel bones...of course after the damage was done. Thinking that rule got changed due to many others besides my husband ending up with broken foot bones.

i quit wearing them too although they are required, i think the suites that think this stuff up have never had to spend a day on their feet wearing them, those shoes are heavy , and now due to severe back problems which will put me in a chair in a few years [ not related to the shoes] i buy shoes that look like they have a steel toe but dont, just got to watch where your feet are more,

Local guy here is missing a couple toes because of steel toe boots. A large cow stepped on the plate and bent it down and sliced a couple off. If he hadn't of had them on he probably would of had a couple broken toes but at least they would still be attached. I refuse to wear them myself. I've tried them and I guess my big toes rubs the top of my boots because every pair i've tried the lining comes off under the plate. Then my toe nail rubs and comes off. For running a chainsaw I found a steel foot protector that straps on over your shoe and covers your whole foot.

I had a vise fall from the drill press and bend the steel toe cap to the point I had to replace the boots. Tried to get the company to buy replacements (plant accident you know) but got nowhere. Those steel caps are far from perfect. Been wearing them for 40 years anyway.

never broke my feet but have ripped back a couple toenails after they got caught behind steel toe...think i woulda rather broke em.

The latest generation of boots (especially the high end ones) have NON-METAL toe plates now. The problem has been slightly addressed, but the bottom line is that it probably is better to have to protection than to not. Here is a link to some Baffin boots that have non-metal toe plates.
https://www.Link-Disallowed.com/images/Product/icon/FW006.jpg
Work Boots

It's like seat belts. Sometimes they cause more harm than good. You just never know when the seatbelt is going to save your life, or kill you.

My FIL had external metatarsal plates that attached by the boot laces. He used to work in a steel mill.

(quoted from post at 15:53:45 10/17/12) It's like seat belts. Sometimes they cause more harm than good. You just never know when the seatbelt is going to save your life, or kill you.

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Agreed. Sometime you win, sometimes you lose, but in both cases I'll wear steel toes and my seat belt. One of my boots has a slice through the leather of the toe and gouged right into the metal of the steel toe. And I can't even remember how I did that, but I'm sure it would have hurt without the steel toe!

Never heard of anyone breaking their foot from a metatarsal guard, but having been required to wear them for several years I can see how it could happen. I think alot of what happens depends on what type you wear. The ones I wore had the guard on the outside and it was hinged so it would allow almost normal foot movement, but did make things like squating down to do something a royal PITA (or should I say in the foot). At the time I got mine I tried several different brands and styles and all of the internal ones I tried restricted the natural movement of the foot and I figure could very easily cause an injury in the right circumstances, not to mention they were just plain uncomfortable to wear when you were on your feet for a 12 hour shift.

As far as steel toed boots, I've been wearing them for close to 30 years because I work on heavy equipment. Funny thing is that when somehting drops it usually hits the metatarsal area instead of the toe.... so it hurts anyways. Fortunately I've never had any problems with mine, nor known anybody to have a body part amputated due to wearing them. On the other hand my dad wound up losing his big toe when a 1500 lb track pad fell and scissored the end of his boot. In that case he was told that had it not been for the steel toe he would have lost all of his toes. In another instance a guy on the flight deck when I was in the Navy got his foot ran over by an F18 Hornet. Because of the steel toes in his boot he came away with a severaly bruised foot, but at least he still had it.

the only ones i ever had to wear had fiberglass guards and toes. antistatic soles and the like. couldnt have metal in them for electrical safety. hated the things, weighed about 25 lbs each.they gave a little though so if you dropped something on your foot it did help i think. knew a old fellow when i worked in the oil field that dropped a piece of drill pipe on his steel toes and it just mashed it flat and took his toes off, but it would have done it without also. to me they are sort of like hard hats, if something goes through it, your not getting any protection anyway. but if something hits it and deflected theve done their job. like i say i hated wearing them, but i understand the reasoning behind them.and i do think they help prevent a lot of accidents.

Worked with a dumb guy who was climbing on a tree spade to move branches out of the way while the spade was putting the tree in the hole. Don't know why the spade operator didn't tell him to get the -ell back but the steel toe got bent into his toes and he had to have two or 3 toes amputated. OUCH!