Newsletter - PFI Germany Start
Newsletter - PFI Germany Start
Newsletter - PFI Germany Start
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28<br />
<strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
The protective toe caps of safety shoes offer protection<br />
against injuries caused by trapping and by impact.<br />
However, when employees work with handling<br />
vehicles such as fork lift trucks or pallet jacks accidents<br />
often occur in which the feet of the driver or<br />
operator are run over by a wheel of the vehicle. The<br />
consequences are frequently complex fractures which<br />
may heal only with diffi culty, if at all, and may impose<br />
serious life-long restrictions on the injured person.<br />
A new <strong>PFI</strong> research project will therefore<br />
examine how protective<br />
toe caps of safety shoes<br />
can be optimised specifi<br />
cally for cases in<br />
which the foot is<br />
run over.<br />
In addition to the standardised tests covered by DIN<br />
EN 20344 and DIN EN 20345, accident scenarios can occur<br />
in the everyday world of work that are simply not<br />
yet covered by any existing standard – the above-mentioned<br />
run-over accidents are an appropriate example.<br />
It is unclear whether today’s protective toe caps are<br />
designed to withstand the forces arising in run-over<br />
accidents and whether the protective function of the<br />
safety shoe is actually assured. This question is of particular,<br />
but not exclusive, relevance for protective toe<br />
caps made of plastic. The extent of injury sustained by<br />
a foot in a safety shoe with a protective toe cap is critically<br />
dependent upon the deformation of this toe cap<br />
under load.<br />
RESEARCH<br />
Adequate Protection in Run-over Accidents?<br />
Toe Cap Optimisation<br />
In a new AiF research project <strong>PFI</strong> will undertake studies<br />
to specify the loads occurring, their direction of action,<br />
and the damage to the toe cap when it is run over, as<br />
well as the limit values and requirements. The goal is<br />
to improve protective toe caps by adopting design and<br />
material measures which also offer protection in a runover<br />
accident. Moreover, the necessary test equipment<br />
should be listed and the test requirements formulated<br />
in preparation for standardisation of the protective<br />
function of protective toe caps in the case of run-over<br />
accidents. The results to be obtained in this research<br />
project should contribute to the further development<br />
of present-day protective toe caps and thus to further improvements<br />
in the protective function of safety shoes.<br />
The two-year project began on 1 January 2013. This<br />
project is funded by the German Industrial Research<br />
Alliance (AiF – Allianz Industrie Forschung) – Grant No.<br />
AiF 17636 N.<br />
Further Information<br />
<strong>PFI</strong> Engineering<br />
Dipl.-Ing. Peter Schultheis<br />
Phone: +49 (0)6331 249040<br />
E-Mail: peter.schultheis@pfi -germany.de
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