Design of innovative protective insoles: a hybrid component for safety footwear

Abstract

The use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has become a necessity in view of the number of accidents at work that occurred in the past years. The European Community (EU) and the member states are creating strategies aiming the increase of the use of PPE’s and consequently the decrease of the number of the accidents at work, decreasing also the number of injuries caused by them and their severity. In this paper, a brief review of safety footwear and its components will be presented focusing on penetration resistant inserts. Additionally, we present a project in development at University of Minho that aims to improve the existent shoes. This project aims the development of a new and innovative methodology for design a surface of a penetration resitant insert based in the anthropometry and biomechanical analysis of the foot. This methodology allows the design of a penetration resistant insert more comfortable and appellative than the already existent.