
Over the last couple of months I have been familiarising my feet with the Black Eagle Safety Pro Mid Class S3 Boots from HAIX, writes Bob Morrison.
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Safety Boots are not my usual footwear and until now I have not actually owned a pair with toe protection since my days working in heavy engineering but, as compliance with H&S rules is a necessity these days for many factory visits and as I dislike wearing possibly unhygienic borrowed shoes, it makes sense for me to have a broken in pair on my boot rack.


Boots in the HAIX Black Eagle Safety Pro range (available in High, Mid or Low models) are designated Class S3 safety footwear as they are puncture-resistant, slip-resistant, shock-resistant and waterproof in addition to having a non-metallic composite toecap. The pair featured here are the latest Black/Silver mid-height textile uppers version (Black/Red or Black/Orange are available for those in industries or services which need these colours) but all-leather uppers versions are produced as well textile uppers variants in more fashionable colour combinations.

In my lead paragraph I said I have been ‘familiarising my feet’ with these boots, rather than breaking them in because, other than the obviously wider front end to accommodate the composite toecap, these are essentially just the HAIX Black Eagle model that I have been wearing for many years, albeit with an EN ISO 20345:2011 Compliant composite sole unit. I find HAIX boot construction to usually be a little stiff when brand new, but the Black Eagle range does not take very much breaking in at all and by the third (comparatively brief) outing my BE Safety Pro Mid boots were feeling pretty comfortable indeed.


With uppers manufactured from a combination of cut-resistant and abrasion-resistant textile plus microfibre welded to a composite rubber and polyurethane sole unit, the mid-height (130mm / 5”) model in my largish UK Size 10.5 / EU Size 45 weighs just 733g / 26oz ~ even with the protective toecap. To keep the feet dry when working outdoors, the featured model uses GORE-TEX Extended waterproof and breathable membrane lining ‘sock’. Back in the day when I was wearing heavy steel toecap leather boots for work, out on the factory floor or on site visits, I would have given anything for safety footwear as lightweight and comfortable as this.


Most readers will probably not be too interested in the full specification of these safety boots so, rather than me droning on, here is a link to the HAIX datasheet (PDF) for those who need to know which standards these boots comply with. Having protective toecaps this safety boot model is, out of necessity, a fair bit broader at the front end than the standard Black Eagle patrol boot; however it still looks smart as well as being highly functional. Next time I’m invited inside a defence manufacturing facility where safety boots are the order of the day it will be my own HAIX Black Eagle Safety Pro Mid footwear protecting my tootsies.


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