Workmen and shoes

markie62

We had a joiner come to the house a few weeks ago. It's a semi rural area where we live and mud is everywhere. He came to the front door and his boots were caked in mud. I asked him if he had shoe covers, he did not, and said that his shoes were not that bad. I sent him round to the back door where he stepped into the kitchen and took off his shoes. He did his estimate and left thinking I was probably insane. I had to do a home visit yesterday to assess a property. I took my shoes off at the door even though it was not a requirement. This is for me, a sign of respect.

LisaLou1982

OP there is nothing in any insurance policy that states that they will not pay out if a person wears overshoes. That is absolute rubbish.

Likewise, there is nothing in any health and safety policy that states that a person cannot wear overshoes.

As part of my job, i am surveying properties so am required to wear work safety boots. Company policy states for health and safety i need to wear these so cannot take them off.

However, common sense depending on what i am doing takes precidence.

If i am climbing in the loft, i will not take them off. I do have overshoes which i always use and carry with me. Alternatively, some customers lay dust sheets for me.

if i am downstairs doing paperwork and the house is clean and tidy then i will take my shoes off.

The only time i do not offer to take my boots off is where there is a danger that i will have to wipe my shoes on the way out rather than the way in!

In my house, i have clean cream coloured caropets that i paid a lot of money for. Everyone takes their shoes off when they enter my house. No Exceptions.

Tradesmen are given overshoes if they dont have any of their own.

lama_pdx

Ideally it's about hitting a balance between respect for the safety of the workers and respect for the person who has to clean up after them.

We don't wear shoes in the house but I've never asked a workman to take off his boots. I don't know what the regs are, but I know I personally wouldn't want to move huge objects or use dangerous tools whilst wearing slippery socks or someone else's slippers.

At the same time, if I were about to move a washing machine into a house and I noticed an expanse of pristine white carpet, I think it would be reasonable to say something like, "This could get messy, do you want to put down a sheet?" Rather than tromping all over the place without a thought.

When we had our basement tanked we had two lads coming in and out of the house for the better part of ten days, doing sometimes filthy work. We laid down tarps and newspaper and I just factored in about a half-hour of clean-up time after they left each night so the kitchen would be presentable for our tea. In their turn they did their best to minimise the mess, for example I could tell they took their boots off before going upstairs to use the toilet, which I appreciated.

skivenov

Had a lad in replasterring the bathroom and putting an extractor in at the start of the year. He'd got it sussed. He had his normal boots (slip on dealer boots like mine) and a pair of white safety trainers when he was crossing carpets when his sheets weren't down.

Alan2020

Avoriaz wrote: »

As Santa comes in via the chimney, I suspect dirty shoes may be the least of the problems he brings.

Santa has been on a diet of Christmas pudding with double cream sauce, so no he won't be fitting through a skinny chimney :rotfl:

So guess what he is going to stomp through your back door and exit through the front, and for good measure, send a ripper down the chimney for effect