Why is every employee in gold and currency vaults required to wear metal shoes? (3 photos)

Gold vaults are places where huge stocks of precious metals are stored, including gold, the value of which reaches billions of dollars. But few people know that in most gold vaults, employees are not allowed inside without special metal boots.





For example, you can pay attention to an old photo taken in the late 1950s by professional photographer Ormond Gigli. In this photo, an employee of the US gold vault is standing on gold bars in these strange metal shoes.

Let's start with a fact that very few people know: historically, gold vaults around the world have been staffed exclusively by men



Working with gold valued at hundreds of billions of dollars may seem exciting, but in reality, the entire process is similar to working in a warehouse where all the products are gold bars, each of which weighs from 11 to 13.3 kg.

And moving carts, loading and unloading gold bars is clearly an occupation for strong men.

Almost all large vaults use hydraulic lifts and conveyors that ease the physical strain, but many processes, one way or another, must be performed by people.

The gold still needs to be constantly moved, unloaded, or loaded.

Just look at the man in the photo below. He's transporting gold bars in a special cart and wearing massive metal boots, just like everyone else.

But what kind of boots are these and why does every worker in the gold and currency vaults need to wear them?



These are "metatarsal guard boots" made from magnesium alloy, or as they are called in the US "metatarsal guard boots". Their purpose, as many have probably already guessed, is to play an important role in protecting the workers' feet.

The standard weight of one ingot, as we have already mentioned above, is about 11-13 kg, and its fall even from a small height can cause serious injuries to the leg.

In the 1950s, many workers encountered gold bars falling on their feet, which often led to severe injuries, fractures and even disability.

One worker in an American federal vault in 1952 accidentally touched several bars lying on top of each other and they crushed his leg, crushing several bones. This man experienced severe pain and limped for the rest of his life.

Due to poor blood circulation and heavy loads when walking, fractures of the foot bones heal extremely poorly, causing chronic problems.

That is why, to protect against such risks, all employees of the vaults have introduced rules for wearing protective shoes in the room with gold bars. If an employee does not want to wear boots all day, he puts them on only when entering the vault.

But can't metal boots scratch gold bars?

The thing is that the soles of these shoes are lead, so as not to leave marks on the bars and not to scratch them in cases when it is necessary to work with the bullion mass, laying it out manually. But even a possible scratch on the bar is not worth the state paying hundreds of millions of dollars to injured employees (or suddenly disabled) who worked in the civil service in an ordinary gold and currency vault.

To sum it up very briefly: such boots exist for one single reason: to prevent employees from injuring their feet when working with heavy gold bars.