Regional Differences in Sources from which Footwear is Obtained

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Regional Differences in Sources from which Footwear is Obtained

Department store or large local shop

Proportions of men who buy their footwear from a department store or large local shop are significantly higher in the Glasgow area than anywhere else.

Small local shop

In the Glasgow area again, proportions of male workers getting their footwear from small local shops are significantly lower than average and than in Northern England or the area covering the S., S.W., S.E., and E. Anglia: and lower in the Midlands and S.Wales than in Northern England. (The term “small local shop” may in some cases refer to branches of large stores.)

Employer

Proportions of men who have their working footwear supplied by their employers are significantly higher in London and the Midlands and S.Wales area than in any of the other three areas.

Regional Differences in Attempts to Buy Since Christmas

Significantly higher proportions of men had tried to buy footwear since Christmas are well below 100 in all areas, it is not practicable to give a regional analysis of types of difficulty encountered. However, of the 103 men in the sample who had had difficulty in buying, a significantly higher proportion said that footwear was unobtainable than those who said they had found difficulty in getting small, medium or large sizes: though when the proportions who had difficulty in getting the 3 sizes are averaged, the frequency of the size occurring as a difficulty falls within the normal range.

TYPE OF FOOTWEAR	Dept. store or large local shop		Small local shop		Employer		Mail order		Second-hand		Not answer-ed		Sample
TYPE OF FOOTWEAR	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Hob-nailed boots	320	63	139	28	5	1	6	1	10	2	27	5	507
Boots	138	60	56	24	2	1	3	1	7	3	25	11	231
Rubber boots	47	23	35	17	111	54	1	-	4	2	8	4	206
Clogs	14	11	41	31 ± 8.2	62	47 ± 8.8	-	-	1	1	13	10	131
Ordinary heavy shoes	58	65	18	20	3	3	-	-	1	1	10	11	90

It can be seen from this table that the majority of ordinary boots, hob-nailed boots and ordinary heavy shoes, are bought at department stores or large local shops. More than half of the men who wear rubber boots for their work are supplied with them through their employer. There is no significant difference between frequencies with which clogs are supplied by employers and bought at small local shops.

Note.

Many investigators reported that workers had explained that the difficulty in getting rubber boots which were urgently and essentially required for some types of work - particularly with acids - was often due to the lack of permits rather than to shortage in the shops, where workers had seen rubber boots of the type they required.

Best Type of Footwear

Questions 6, 7 & 8	Hob-nailed boots		Rubber boots		Boots		Clogs		Total
Questions 6, 7 & 8	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	%
Q.6 Tried to buy since Xmas	185	37 ± 4.1	74	28 ± 5.4	80	35 ± 6.2	36	27 ± 7.2	33
Has not tried to buy	310	61	163	63	142	61	80	60	62
Not answered	13	2	23	9	9	4	17	13	5
All who stated preference	508		260		231		133		1132
Q.7 Difficulty in buying	39	21 ± 6.2	31	42	12	15 ± 7.4	15	-	26
No difficulty in buying	145	78	40	54	65	81	21	-	72
Not answered	1	1	3	4	3	4	-	-	2
All who tried to buy since Xmas	185		74		80		36		375
Q.8 None obtainable	6	-	11	-	1	-	7	-	26
Wrong type for work	11	-	-	-	2	-	2	-	15
Size unobtainable: small	3	-	2	-	-	-	1	-	6
Medium	4	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	6
Large	1	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	4
Have to wait for order	6	-	4	-	2	-	4	-	16
Others	7	-	11	-	5	-	-	-	24
Not answered	2	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	3
All who had difficulty in buying	40		31		12		15		98

There are no statistically significant differences between the frequencies of attempts to buy these four types of footwear since Christmas: but it will be seen that a significantly higher proportion of the men who had tried to buy rubber boots had experienced difficulty than those who had tried to buy other types of footwear.

Comparison of (1) Type preferred and type worn and (2) Type preferred and suggested alternative, in four hazard groups.

TYPES PREFERRED

TYPE WORN:	Hob-nailed Boots		Rubber Boots		Boots		Clogs		Shoes		Safeties		TOTAL of types worn
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Hob-nailed boots	406	83	53	21	1	-	8	6	-	-	5	-	473	39
Rubber boots	55	11	168	67	7	3	-	-	3	-	-	-	233	19
Boots	30	6	18	7	193	89	9	7	2	2	13	-	265	22
Clogs	2	-	16	6	3	1	100	78	3	3	1	-	125	10
Shoes	10	2	9	4	21	10	13	10	83	97	3	-	139	11
Safeties	-	-	2	1	-	-	2	2	-	-	38	-	42	3
TOTAL of preferences given	488		252		218		129		86		55		1228
ALTERNATIVE TYPES:
Hob-nailed boots	(279)	(57)	50	20	16	7	23	18	-	-	7	-	375	31
Rubber boots	42	9	(115)	(46)	11	5	6	5	1	1	-	-	175	14
Boots	77	16	32	13	(116)	(53)	20	16	27	31	19	-	291	24
Clogs	18	4	22	9	9	4	(57	(44)	3	3	2	-	111	9
Shoes	5	1	3	1	30	14	6	5	(40	(47)	-	-	84	7
Safeties	12	3	4	2	8	4	11	9	2	2	(25)	-	62	5
No alternative given	55	11	26	10	28	13	6	5	13	15	2	-	130	11
TOTAL of preferences given	488		252		218		129		86		55		1228

Safeties includes both ordinary safety-boots and hob-nailed safety-boots.

( NOTE . Vertical totals under “Types Worn” add to more than horizontal totals of “preferences Given” because in some cases men mentioned two types of footwear, either of which they usually wore, e.g., agricultural workers often need to wear both hob-nailed boots and rubber boots for their work.)

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