The intricacies of your foot—all 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments—help support your entire body and serve an essential role in your basic locomotive functions. As such, foot protection has long played a role in assuring safe workplace operations, and lack of proper safety shoes has plagued industrial practices for even longer. For example, back during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, the first of many workplace injuries on the project was none other than its designer, John A. Roebling, whose right foot was crushed by a docking boat when he went out to survey the location prior to construction.
For decades, ANSI Z41 was the trusted standard for foot protection, a role that has been filled by ASTM F2412 and ASTM F2413 for the past 20 years.
What Is ANSI Z41?
First published in 1967 before being superseded in 2005, ANSI Z41, “American National Standard for Personal Protection – Protective Footwear,” was responsible for covering the performance criteria for a wide range of footwear to protect workers from hazards. This value of this standard for safety shoes and boots was recognized early on following its initial publication, with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) incorporating ANSI Z41 as a reference standard in the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Section 1910.
This standard was revised several times over the years that it was in use, with the last edition before its withdrawal being ANSI Z41-1999.
ANSI Z41 Superseded by ASTM F2412 and ASTM F2413
In 2005, ANSI Z41-1999 was replaced by two ASTM International Standards, ASTM F2412 and ASTM F2413. This change saw the ANSI Z41 Committee on Personal Protection-Protective Footwear merge into ASTM International Committee F13, and it placed responsibility for redrafting performance requirements and test method standards for safety footwear with the F13 Committee.
ASTM F2412 covers test methods to measure the resistance of footwear to a variety of hazards that can potentially result in injury. ASTM F2413 deals the performance of footwear to provide protection from these hazards, and it is purposed with the certification of protective footwear. Please note that, as stated in the standard, “Certification must be performed by independent third party laboratories in order for footwear to bear the ASTM marking.”
You can read more about the initial publication of ASTM F2412 and ASTM F2413 in ASTM International’s news release from May 1, 2005, New ASTM International Standards Supersede ANSI Z41 Protective Footwear Standards.
Footwear Standards Incorporated by Reference by OSHA
In addition to ANSI Z41, the first editions of these two ASTM standards were incorporated by reference in OSHA CFR 1910.136 – Foot protection. Specifically, as stated in OSHA CFR 1910.136:
“1910.136(b)(1)
Protective footwear must comply with any of the following consensus standards:
1910.136(b)(1)(i)
ASTM F-2412-2005, “Standard Test Methods for Foot Protection,” and ASTM F-2413-2005, “Standard Specification for Performance Requirements for Protective Footwear,” which are incorporated by reference in § 1910.6;
1910.136(b)(1)(ii)
ANSI Z41-1999, “American National Standard for Personal Protection — Protective Footwear,” which is incorporated by reference in § 1910.6; or
1910.136(b)(1)(iii)
ANSI Z41-1991, “American National Standard for Personal Protection — Protective Footwear,” which is incorporated by reference in § 1910.6.
1910.136(b)(2)
Protective footwear that the employer demonstrates is at least as effective as protective footwear that is constructed in accordance with one of the above consensus standards will be deemed to be in compliance with the requirements of this section.”
Identical text can be found in 1918.104 – Foot protection, which covers regulations for longshoring.
Get ASTM F2412 and ASTM F2413
Both ASTM Standards have gone through several revisions since their initial publication. ASTM F2412-24: Standard Test Methods for Foot Protection and ASTM F2413-24: Standard Specification for Performance Requirements for Protective (Safety) Toe Cap Footwear are available on the ANSI Webstore. You can also acquire them together as the ASTM F2412 / ASTM F2413 – Foot Protection and Performance Package.
You can also refer to our blog posts on these standards:
ASTM F2412-24: Standard Test Methods for Foot Protection
ASTM F2413-24: Performance Requirements For Protective (Safety) Toe Cap Footwear