Electrician footwear that truly withstands voltage

Recently, a protective safety footwear product described as electrically insulating has appeared on the Hungarian market, also using the name “Volt”. This can easily be confused with the certified protective footwear product VOLT, article number 9GANLEX33, manufactured by Ganteline, which has been supplied since 2013 and is proven and well established among users.

The issue is not only the similarity of the name – although this alone is not ideal, as it makes clear identification and traceability of the products more difficult. The main concern is that there are significant differences between the two products in terms of protection capabilities. Because of this, the identical naming may mislead users – even unintentionally. This is not a minor detail; it represents a safety risk.

1. PPE protection category

The most important difference lies in the protection category:

The 9GANLEX33 Volt and 9GANLEX32 Amper models are Category III personal protective equipment (PPE).
In contrast, the Exena Volt and Elettro footwear belong only to Category II.

This is not merely a formal difference. Regulation (EU) 2016/425 on personal protective equipment clearly defines Category III as protection against the most serious risks. These include situations that may lead to death or irreversible health damage – such as electric shock or working under voltage.

Therefore, only Category III PPE may be used for protection against such risks.

2. Testing and standards

The 9GANLEX33 Volt and 9GANLEX32 Amper electrically insulating safety footwear are certified not only according to the harmonised European standards MSZ EN ISO 20344:2022+A1:2024 and MSZ EN ISO 20345:2022+A1:2024, but also meet the requirements of the EU-compliant test instruction VU-1-11, specifically developed for electrically insulating leather upper safety footwear, issued by the notified body Mádi és Tsa Kft (1556).

By contrast, the electrostatic properties of the Exena Lex Volt and Lex Elettro Category II footwear are measured according to the non-EU-compliant Canadian CSA Z195-14 and American ASTM F2413-11 standards. These cannot be stated in the EU type examination certificate or EU declaration of conformity, and therefore such products cannot qualify as Category III PPE.

3. Conformity assessment and inspection

Category III PPE, such as 9GANLEX33 Volt and 9GANLEX32 Amper, may only be placed on the market and used after completing the mandatory conformity assessment procedures required for Category III equipment. In this case, this includes Module C2 and individual post-production inspection.

These procedures fully certify the electrically insulating footwear’s ability to protect against electric shock in 1000 V AC systems, which is also confirmed by additional post-marking.

The Exena Lex Volt and Lex Elettro do not have such conformity assessment procedures, nor individual unit testing, nor marking verifying proper and controlled electrical insulation.

Conclusion

Based on the above, it is important to emphasize that the Exena Lex Volt and Lex Elettro footwear do not have EU-certified, full-foot electrical insulation capability.

Therefore, their use for live working applications may pose a risk.