Falls on icy surfaces are among the top causes of injuries for workers exposed to the outdoor environment. Our recent field study showed that a new generation of winter footwear incorporating composite outsoles was able to reduce slips and falls on icy surfaces by 68% and 78%, respectively. The widespread adoption of this type of footwear may lead to substantial reductions in pain, suffering and costs of fall-related injuries. However, these composite materials are sensitive to wear and abrasion, which makes it likely that their slip-resistance performance may degrade with use. The goal of this pilot study was to determine the extent to which the slip-resistance of two types of winter footwear with composite outsoles changed as they wore down with real-world use. Seven participants were recruited for this study and were asked to walk 100K steps with their assigned footwear. Tread depth and slip-resistance performance (using the Maximum Achievable Angle test) were measured at baseline and again after each 25K-step interval up to 100K. Our results showed that the slip-resistance performance of the test footwear dropped significantly after the 75K and 100K step intervals compared to baseline. In addition, significant changes in tread depth were found after only 25K steps. These findings indicate that the performance of this type of footwear degrades relatively quickly with real-world use. Therefore, larger scale study of the slip-resistance of winter footwear with composite outsoles is needed and members of the public should be made aware of the potential loss of slip-resistance of these products.
Keywords: Falls; Footwear; Ice; Slip-resistance; Slips-and-falls; Wear; Winter.
Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.