Driving a flatbed truck requires me to go into some fairly hazardous places. Steel mills and lumber yards are loaded with potentially harmfull stuff. It's no surprise that they usually require steel-toed boots along with hardhats and safety glasses. Still, if circumstances allow, I will kick off my boots while securing and tarping the load. One of the mills I was at this past week did not lend itself to going unshod. There were several other drivers around and the securement lot was in open view of plant personnel. Rather than risk an encounter I left my boots on. This led directly to two close calls.
The first one came as I was walking across the top of the steel angle that had been loaded on my trailer. I misplaced my foot and it slid down between two bundles of steel. Had I fallen to either side the leverage of my mass against the wedged foot would almost certainly have resulted in a painful break. Fortunately, I fell straight forward.
The second incident came as I was stepping onto a section of the truck's frame to reach something. I hadn't noticed that I had just stepped in the edge of a puddle just seconds before. The slick, wet mud on the soles of my boots slipped quite nicely against the smooth steel of the frame. Only my incredible cat-like reflexes saved me
In both cases, had I been barefoot the incident would not have occured. With bare feet I would have been able to sense the situation and adjust as needed. I'll still wear my boots when I have to, but I'm doing what I can to reduce those shod moments as much as possible.
