Footwear plays an important role in worker safety. Work boots with safety toes are often utilized at mine sites to protect workers from hazards. Increasingly, mining operations require metatarsal guards in addition to safety toe protection in boots. While these guards provide additional protection, the impact of metatarsal guards on gait are unknown. This study aimed to measure the effects of 4 safety work boots, steel toe, and steel toe with metatarsal protection in wader- and hiker-style boots, on level and inclined walking gait characteristics, during ascent and descent. A total of 10 participants completed this study. A motion capture system measured kinematics that allowed for the calculation of key gait parameters. Results indicated that gait parameters changed due to incline, similar to previous literature. Wader-style work boots reduced ankle range of motion when ascending an incline. Hip, knee, and ankle ranges of motion were also reduced during descent for this style of boot. Wader-style boots with metatarsal guards led to the smallest ankle range of motion when descending an inclined walkway. From these results, it is likely that boot style affects gait parameters and may impact a miner’s risk for slips, trips, or falls.

鞋类在工人安全方面发挥着重要作用。矿场经常使用带有安全鞋头的工作靴来保护工人免受危险。除了靴子中的安全脚趾保护之外，采矿作业越来越需要跖骨防护装置。虽然这些防护装置提供了额外的保护，但跖骨防护装置对步态的影响尚不清楚。本研究旨在测量 4 种安全工作靴、钢趾靴以及涉水靴和徒步靴中带有跖骨保护的钢趾靴在上升和下降过程中对水平和倾斜行走步态特征的影响。共有 10 名参与者完成了这项研究。运动捕捉系统测量运动学，从而可以计算关键步态参数。结果表明，步态参数因倾斜而改变，与之前的文献类似。涉水式工作靴会减少爬坡时脚踝的活动范围。对于这种款式的靴子，在下降过程中臀部、膝盖和脚踝的运动范围也会减少。当走下倾斜的人行道时，带有跖骨防护装置的涉水式靴子导致脚踝的活动范围最小。从这些结果来看，靴子的款式可能会影响步态参数，并可能影响矿工滑倒、绊倒或跌倒的风险。