TUC Congress to Debate Wearing High Heels at Work
Very soon women working in the retail sector might be spared from wearing high heels at work as a part of their dress code, if the TUC succeeds in implementing a no-heels regulation at the workplace. The TUC Congress is going to discuss this motion in its conference next month.
The Congress is the policy making body of the TUC that annually holds a meeting where all types of workers’ unions debate and consider various motions. These motions become the basis of the TUC’s work for the next year.
The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists is going to present the motion of wearing high heels regularly at work. They will discuss the various risk factors involved in wearing high heels such as lower limb disorders. The Society’s concern is that many women workers in the retail sector are required to wear high heels as part of their dress code as enforced by their employers. The Society feels a lot of awareness is required about the health problems that wearing high heels daily can lead to.
The Society is going to make an appeal to employers who compel their women workers to wear high heels to assess the associated health problems, and it wants them to make proper risk assessments. If the risks are found to be high, the Society demands to do away with high heels and replace them with soft and comfortable shoes that would not hurt employees’ feet.
A few years back, a campaign was launched by the Society to make women aware of foot problems and to provide suggestions on how to prevent such problems. A research conducted by the Society states that most women wearing high heels at work take sick leaves amounting to two million days every year due to lower limb disorders.
The entire motion raised by the Society, however, has been called as patronising by women like The Apprentice’s Michelle Dewberry and Tory MP Nadine Dorries. Companies need to be sure that they are giving the correct instructions to employees with regard to health and safety issues and make themselves fully aware of the most up-to-date requirements by visiting Workplace Law and looking at their highly regarded IOSH Safety courses.
