Safety shoes? U-Power?

[peterbailey93]

Hi,
I want to buy a pair of safety shoes as I'm starting a new job and will now be on-site a lot more. I've been looking at the U-Power Red Lion Lift and wondered if anyone had any experience with this brand/model? Is there any another brand I should be considering?..

Any thoughts would be really helpful..

Thanks
Peter

 

[scbk]

Ideally go to a shop and try a few on.

If you're employed, you should be provided with safety shoes

 

[OvertonPlumber]

Wore dewalt safety trainers for years always had sore heel. Changed to snickers safety boots.. Pain gone!!

 

[ericmark]

I blaim my bad feet on cheap safety shoes, provided by my employer, where I work now, asked to buy our own, as when volunteering so people may only work 5 days a year.

But now they are asking for CAT something, and I have said OK you provide the boots.

But it seems all down to insurance, and often insurance does ask for things which seem on the surface odd.

I know we can't use our own tools, we can donate tools then use them, but it seems the firm must have the power to withdraw items considered dangerous, and they can't do that if items not theirs.

So check with firm first before buying any.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I blaim my bad feet on cheap safety shoes, provided by my employer, where I work now, asked to buy our own, as when volunteering so people may only work 5 days a year.

People are often unaware that their feet spread (widen) with age, but also that the lasts on which many boots are made are fundamentally too narrowfor a lot of people, especially when you consider that you often need to wear them with a pair of thick socks in winter, so I'll reiterate the advice given above - ALWAYS try safety footwear on whilst wearing your winter work socks before buying them. If they are tight or in the least bit uncomfortable when you try them on, they will be ten times wirse at the end of an 8 or 10 hours on your feet. And no, despite the salesman saying so, they won't break in to your feet

Wear boots which aren't wide enough and you risk bunnions and/or club toes - both permanent and unfixable, and will make walking in later life painful in more advanced instances

But now they are asking for CAT something, and I have said OK you provide the boots.

Do you mean category SBP or S1P? Personally if any external work is required, you should look for category S3.

S1 is the minimum protection class (for toes only), but lacks midsole puncture resistance. For that reason they are rarely permitted anywhere I work these days

SB has heal and toe protection, but still lacks midsole puncture protection.

I think you really need that midsole puncture protection on sites (lots of nsils, screws and bolts to spoil your day) so the minimum boot category for your own safety should be SBP (SB with anti-puncture sole)

But neither S1 or SB are waterproof, so for exterior work you ideally want boots to category S3, which are like SBP, but are waterproof

In terms of the protection type, older style boots have steel toe, heel and midsole protection - more modern (more expensive) boots use composite (Kevlar, carbon fibre, etc) protections which are considerably lighter

The minimum I buy for site work is S3, with composite protection. But they aren't cheap

There are also different styles of boot. For site work elastic-sided dealer boots and pull on rigger boots have more or less been banned by the big firms
because they come off too easily (e.g. when crossing very muddy areas in winter) leaving you with no protection - whilst safety trainers leave your ankles exposed all the time to projecting scaffolding tubes, steels, masonry, etc and are similarly unsuitable and hence frowned on or banned. So probably best to stick to lace-up boots with a decent amount of ankle support and ankle side protection

So check with firm first before buying any.

I can but concur

 

[ericmark]

Yes they ask for S3, as to rigger boots, would have thought being able to remove quickly an advantage, if your foot gets stuck in railway points etc, better damage to foot than whole body.

But I don't normally work on track gang, I also have a problem tieing shoe laces, but most 72 year olds don't need safety boots.

I think the problem is we tend to buy from likes of Screwfix, not a shoe shop, as we buy what they stock, not always best for our feet.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Yes they ask for S3, as to rigger boots, would have thought being able to remove quickly an advantage, if your foot gets stuck in railway points etc, better damage to foot than whole body.

Railway tracks are probably a slightly different scenario from more general construction, so perhaps there are different safety constraints (well, there are, such as orange hi-viz, etc)

I think the problem is we tend to buy from likes of Screwfix, not a shoe shop, as we buy what they stock, not always best for our feet.

Personally, I don't. Their boots were poor and never fitted well. I now go to a safety and PPE specialist in Blackburn where I can try on a pair of boots (they have a good selection), before buying them. I'm not quite as old as you (a couple of years short), but in my case I've needed a wide fit boot for a few years so I'll "gladly" spend the extra on composite protections (lighter) and Gore-Tex linings (less sweaty in warm weather) as well to maximise my comfort and ensure the darned things aren't going to cripple me. The downside is that this costs quite a lot, especially given that a pair of my site boots often won't last above 12 months

 

[ericmark]

I work one day a week, so my boots will last decades, living in mid Wales not much option around here. Although I suspect every farmer uses them.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I want to buy a pair of safety shoes as I'm starting a new job and will now be on-site a lot I've been looking at the U-Power Red Lion Lift and wondered if anyone had any experience with this brand/model? Is there any another brand I should be considering?..

I had a quick look. Are these the boots you were looking at? Seem like a reasonable spec. As you are willing to buy a reasonable spec of boot, maybevtake a look at the Cofra brand

PS The item I linked to is a boot, not a shoe. Semantics, maybe, but nevertheless there us a major difference

 

[Eccles]

Got my last pair from Lidl and they lasted years. Have just got a new pair from shoezone, cos Lidl didn't have any at the time.

 

[opps]

I used to purchase Timberland Pro S3 boots. They were comfy straight out of the box. They were a lot cheaper than the regular Timberland boots (and IMO, better made).

Unfortunately, they eventually sub'd out the EU Timberland Pro boots to a French firm. The quality and comfort nose dived.

I used to buy the proper ones whenever I visited America, but I no longer have reason to go to the USA.

I would consider having them shipped from the USA but the cost of shipping, import duties and 20 VAT would make them stupidly expensive. And yes, although they are VAT rated at zero percent, you still have to pay 20% on the cost of the boot plus shipping.

These days, I wear the Dewalt Titanium S3 boots. I have had 3 pairs in a row.

dewalt boots titanium - Google Shopping

On average they last up to 2.5 years. Not bad given that I wear them all day, every day of the year. They keep my feet warm(er) when working on scaffolding in the winter, and cooler in the summer. 14 hours a day, 360 days a year times 2 years- that is over 10,000 hours. I never learned how to drive, so I walk alot. I do occasionally replace the insoles, the original Dewalt insoles are available at Screwfix.

Yup, I am the guy that goes straight from work to the pub in my work clothes. In my defence, I don't get paint on my clothes when working. I once got pulled over by the Old Bill. They asked me where I had just come from, I told them that I had literally finished painting a room for a customer 50 metres away. I could see that, looking at my clothes, he didn't believe me. I pointed down to my boots, you could see a few bits of roller splatter. He huffed and got back in his car.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Got my last pair from Lidl and they lasted years. Have just got a new pair from shoezone, cos Lidl didn't have any at the time.

All I'll say is that you can't be using them that much!

 

[Bod ...]

I spent £225 on a pair of shoes and I hated them.

Cofra by far the best work shoes and boots I've ever owned.

 

[JohnD]

Apart from the safety and durability, they need to be comfortable and a good fit for your foot, or they will not get worn. Safety footwear tends to be stiff and will not mould to you.

I sometimes wear a slightly larger size with a moulded footbed insert.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Cofra by far the best work shoes and boots I've ever owned.

I quite like my Cofra boots as well - I'm on my 3rd pair having previously had several pair of Saults and before those several pairs of Stietz. The Sault boots went through some cost reduction measures which ruined them for me (e.g. plastic lace hooks as opposed to metal - I returned 2 pairs as unfit for purpose before kicking them into touch). The Stietz boots (made in Germany) got very pricey following Brexit - another Brexit benefit.