Potency Tips

The TUC Congress meet next month will debate the motion of women wearing high heels at work and its accompanying health hazards. This motion will be put forward by the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists that has demanded scrapping of high heels and introduction of comfortable shoes at work. The Congress is a policy making body that holds annual meetings of different unions in which motions are debated and discussed, based on which the TUC works in the coming year.

The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists has reasoned that many employers in the retail sector force their women workers to wear high heels as part of their official dress code, leading to serious lower limb problems for many women. It has insisted on raising awareness and launching a campaign on the various health problems caused by wearing high heels on a daily basis.

The Society is calling upon employers who force their female employees to wear high heels at work to be aware of women’s health problems and to carry out a risk assessment of wearing high heels. If the assessments show that too many risks are involved, then high heels should be completely removed from the dress code, the Society believes.

Two years back the Society ran an awareness programme on foot care to make women familiar with various foot problems. It also provided advice on how those problems can be prevented. A research led by the Society has found out that nearly two million days a year are lost as people suffer from lower limb disorders. As feet bear the burden of the body, disorders occur mostly due to prolonged standing involved in work and ill-fitting footwear.

However, the entire high-heel issue has been called as sexist and condescending by women such as Tory MP Nadine Dorries and The Apprentice’s Michelle Dewberry. Companies need to be sure that they are giving the correct instructions to employees with regard to health and safety issues; accredited IOSH coursescan assist companies in training staff to be aware of the proper health and safety procedures for all kinds of workplace situations.