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Towns Visited in Five Areas

1. LONDON

Willesden, Hendon, Hackney, Islington, Rotherhithe, Greenwich, Poplar, Mile End, Battersea, Acton, West Ham, West Croydon.

2. SOUTH, SOUTH-WEST and EAST ANGLIA

Peterborough, Aylesbury, Bristol, Exeter, Maidstone, Basingstoke.

3. MIDLANDS and SOUTH WALES

Birmingham, Nottingham, Wolverhampton, Leicester, Cardiff.

4. NORTHERN ENGLAND

Newcastle, Preston, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds.

5. GLASGOW

I HAZARD GROUP HEAT and BURNING

Sample 157

Women in job up to 2 years = 45, unclassified = 4

Type best for work

Proportions naming différent types as best for work:-

Since there are only 45 women in this group of the sample who had been in the job over 2 years, it is not possible to give comparative figures for the preferences of those in the job over and under 2 years.

There are not any outstanding differences except that twice as many of the newer workers said they did not wear any of the types of shoe specified on the questionnaire or did not answer the question.

Reasons why ordinary heavy shoes and clogs are considered best for this work are as follows:-

Type worn for work

Proportions wearing different types of footwear for work when interviewed:

Of the 34 women who were wearing shoes not specified on the questionnaire, three-fifths were wearing medium weight house shoes and the rest were wearing high heeled court shoes, sandals, or any old shoes they had.

When preferences are compared with the type of footwear actually being worn, figures show that four-fifths of the women who considered ordinary heavy shoes the best kind for their job were wearing them, the rest were wearing types not specified on the questionnaire. Of those who preferred clogs, about three-fifths were wearing them and another fifth were wearing ordinary heavy shoes. (It is not possible to give percentages here as basic figures are well below 100).

Alternatives

Of those women who found ordinary heavy shoes best for their work, three-fifths considered that they were the only satisfactory type of footwear for the purpose: relatively few of the women with this preference said that heavy boots or safety shoes would be an adequate substitute and almost a third could name no alternative.

About a fifth of the women who said clogs were best for their work considered them the only satisfactory footwear for the jobs they were doing, another fifth said that ordinary heavy shoes would serve as an adequate substitute, a tenth suggested safety shoes and a similar small proportion suggested rubber boots as possible alternatives. Almost a third of the women did not mention any alternatives.

It is not practicable to give even approximate proportions naming alternatives for other preferred types of shoes as the figures are too small.

II. HAZARD GROUP OIL, GREASE AND FATS

Sample 302

Women in job up to 2 years = 189, over 2 years = 110, unclassified = 3

Type best for work

Proportions naming different types as best for work:

Again there is no marked difference between the preferences of workers who had been in the job over and under 2 years.

Reasons why ordinary heavy shoes and clogs are considered best are tabled below:

Best Type of Footwear

(Note:- An investigator in the South, South-West and East Anglia area reported that though clogs were considered better than leather footwear for working in oil, they were often not worn because workers are not used to them and find them and uncomfortable. The criticism was also made that workers can’t bend their feet in the rigid wooden soles of clogs and have to slip their feet in and out, therefore wearing out socks very quickly. Clogs were often said to be leaky. )

Type worn for work

Proportions wearing different types of footwear for work when interviewed

Figures here show that the proportions of women in this hazard group actually wearing clogs for their work are significantly lower than the proportions who said clogs were the most adequate type of footwear.

Of the 57 women who were wearing other types of shoe, roughly three-fifths were wearing medium weight house shoes, a fifth wore high heeled court shoes, just over a tenth were wearing sandals or gym shoes and the rest used any old shoes they had.

Comparing the types worn by those in the job over and under 2 years, there are no significant differences.

When preferences are compared with the types of footwear actually being worn results are as follows:

For other types of footwear considered best for work the figure to justify comparison.

This table shows that of those women who preferred clogs, considerably smaller proportions were actually wearing them than the proportions of women who preferred ordinary heavy shoes and were wearing this preferred type: this result naturally bears out that found on the preceding table.

Note: Investigators reported that people working in oil complained that the oil penetrates to the stitching in ordinary leather shoes, thereby rotting it: it was suggested that some preparation might be applied to the stitching to prevent it from rotting.

Alternatives

When women were asked what type of footwear would do instead of the “best for the job” alternatives suggested for the main types of footwear preferred are:

Thus it appears that only 25% of the women who prefer clogs for their work consider them the only adequate type of footwear for that purpose: 73% of those who prefer ordinary heavy shoes do not think that there is a good substitute. This may be due to the fact that women who usually wear ordinary heavy shoes have not sampled the advantages of clogs: whereas those wearing clogs at present may previously have had to wear ordinary heavy shoes.

III. HAZARD GROUP ACIDS AND CORROSIVES

Sample 209

Women in job up to 2 years = 118, over 2 years = 90, unclassified = 1

Type best for work

Proportions naming different types as best for work:

Again there are no significant differences between the preferences of workers who have been in the job over and under 2 years, but there is a strongly marked tendency for more of the newer workers to prefer clogs, whereas more of the “older” workers say that ordinary heavy shoes are the most satisfactory type.

Reasons why ordinary heavy shoes, rubber boots and clogs are considered best for work arc tabled below:

(Note: Investigators reported that workers who need rubber boots for the work on which they are engaged made this comment: Acid seeps through the joins in rubberised canvas Wellingtons, they therefore need a Wellington with a rubber tongue well vulcanised, higher up than the instep, otherwise the join tends to split where the foot is bent. Corroborative evidence was also reported that acid workers need from 8-9 pairs of boots per year. Many acid workers don’t like clogs because the acid seeps through the leather uppers.)

Type worn for work

Proportions wearing different types of footwear for work when interviewed are follows :

Here there is a significant difference between the frequencies with which “older” and newer workers wear clogs for their work:

Of the 38 women who were wearing types of footwear not specified on the questionnaire just less than half were wearing medium weight house shoes, a quarter were wearing high heeled court shoes and a few wore sandals or any old shoes they had.

Comparing preference with the type of footwear being worn, the results are as follows:

Four-fifths of the women who preferred ordinary heavy shoes were wearing them, the rest were wearing unspecified types. Half of those who considered clogs best for the work were wearing them and most of the others wore ordinary heavy shoes. almost nine-tenths of the women who preferred rubber boots were actually wearing them and most of the rest in this group were wearing clogs. (Basic figures here are too low to give percentages).

Alternatives

About three-fifths of the women who considered ordinary heavy shoes the best type for their work thought they were the only adequate type, small proportions said that clogs or rubber boots would be good substitutes and less than a third could make no suggestion.

Of those who preferred clogs, roughly two-fifths would consider no adequate substitute, over a fifth said that rubber boots would be an alternative, less than a fifth said ordinary heavy shoes would do instead, and the remainder could not answer the question.

Over three-fifths of the women who said rubber boots were the best type of footwear for their work considered that they were the only adequate type, just over a tenth said that clogs would serve instead, and the rest were not prepared to say what type would do as an alternative.

TYPE BEST FOR WORK IN THREE HAZARD GROUPS

Below are given proportions of women in three hazard groups naming different types of footwear as best for their work.

V. REASONS TYPES ARE CONSIDERED BEST are tabled collectively for all three hazard groups, in the case of ordinary heavy shoes, clogs and rubber boots proportions preferring other kinds of footwear are too small to justify giving reasons for their preferences.

BEST TYPE OF FOOTWEAR

(In all cases percentages and add up to more than 100 because women sometimes gave more than one reason for preference.)

This table shows that rubber boots and clogs were considered by a long way the best type of footwear for protecting workers feet, and stockings, from the hazards in which they are working. Clogs were preferred for the protection they afforded in all three hazard groups: rubber boots mainly by women working with acids and corrosive substances.

The main attraction about ordinary heavy shoes was said to be their comfort, the fact that they are good for standing and a certain proportion of women considered them the best type for the work in all three hazard groups, particularly the first two because they had always worn them and were used to them. Clogs and rubber boots were not preferred nearly so frequently on account of their comfort.

Clogs and ordinary heavy shoes were considered good for these particular kinds of work because they are practical and strong. There is not a significant difference between frequencies with which ordinary heavy shoes and rubber boots were preferred on account of being strong and practical; but a significantly higher proportion of the women preferred clogs to rubber boots for this reason.

VI. SAMPLE ANALYSED BY AREA AND HAZARD GROUP

The only significant differences between the distribution of workers in the three hazard groups in the five areas is that there was a smaller proportion of workers in oil, grease and fats, interviewed in the London area than in the South, South-West and E. Anglia area, and a smaller proportion of acid and corrosive workers interviewed in this latter area than in London.

Type best for Work in Five Areas

From these figures it can be seen that proportions of women who considered ordinary heavy shoes best for their work are significantly higher in London than in the Midlands and Wales, Northern England or Scotland: and significantly lower in Northern England than in all other regions, except Scotland.

Proportions of women preferring clogs for their work are significantly higher in Northern England than in any of the other four regions; significantly higher in Scotland than in the Midlands and Wales, and South, South-West and East Anglia, and lower in London than anywhere else.

(Note: The proportions of women working in oil, grease and fats interviewed in London are relatively lower than proportions interviewed in ary of the other four regions, and it is in the oil, grease and fats hazard group that the preference for clogs ranks highest).

There are no significance differences between the frequencies with which women in the Midlands and Wales, South, South-West and East Anglia and London consider rubber boots best for the work on which they are engaged, but the proportions preferring this type of footwear in Northern England are significantly lower and in Scotland there are no women at all giving this preferences. (It should be noted that the sample of women workers in Scotland is very small and that of this small sample less than one-third of the women were working with acids and corrosives - the hazard group in which there is the highest preference for rubber boots).

VII. ANALYSIS BY FIVE AREAS OF QUESTIONS:-

5 Where do you get the type of footwear you consider of best for your work?

6 Have you tried to buy any footwear since Christmas?

7 If yes: was there any difficulty?

8 If there was difficulty, what was it?