Get a Grip: How Footwear Tread Powers Pushing, Pulling and Reaching
Good shoe tread does more than prevent slips. It gives workers the grip they need to push carts, pull loads and reach safely without losing their footing.
- By Carrie Taylor
- Oct 28, 2026
When you think about footwear tread, you probably think about avoiding slips and falls. That matters, but it's only half the story. Good tread also lets you apply force: it's what lets you push a loaded cart, pull a pallet jack or lean out to reach a shelf without your feet slipping out from under you. If your job involves pushing, pulling or reaching, the soles of your shoes are part of your toolkit.
Where it shows up on the job
Pushing, pulling and reaching are everywhere you look:
- Health care: porters pushing beds and wheelchairs; nurses sliding or repositioning patients, often on polished, freshly mopped floors.
- Warehousing and retail: moving pallet jacks, bins and carts; reaching up to load high shelves.
- Food service: pulling loaded racks out of walk-in coolers; pushing carts across kitchen floors slick with grease or water.
- Hospitality and cleaning: housekeeping carts down carpeted corridors, laundry bins, vacuums, mops and brooms.
- Airports and logistics: baggage carts, dollies and trolleys, often across mixed surfaces and ramps.
- Construction and trades: wheelbarrows on loose ground, pulling cable, leaning out to reach overhead or across a workbench.
- Manufacturing: sliding parts along conveyors and benches, pulling bins, operating levers and hand carts.
Reaching deserves its own mention. When you stretch your arms out, your center of mass shifts forward and your feet have to resist to keep you balanced. Better tread means a steadier base.
Years ago, I worked in a hospital where most of the health records staff wore heels to work. Their jobs included pushing heavy carts of health records through a tunnel, which had ramps at either end. While the forces required to get the cart up the ramp were excessive on their own, the heels certainly didn't help! Don't wear heels? Smooth leather-soled shoes are only a little bit better.
Prove it to yourself
You can feel this difference in a couple of minutes at home:
- Find something heavy that slides, like a big box or a sofa. Choose something you can move comfortably, and stop if you feel any strain.
- Push it forward a bit, while wearing socks. Notice how your feet skid backward before the load moves much, and how you start leaning and bracing.
- Now push it while wearing shoes with good tread. Your feet stay planted, and the same object moves with less effort and less lean.
- For a third round, try worn-out, smooth-soled shoes. They'll probably land somewhere in between.
The actual force required to move the object didn't change. Only the grip between the floor and your feet changed, and that affected how much force you could deliver.
What to look for in work footwear
- Slip-resistant outsoles designed for the surfaces you actually work on: wet, oily, smooth or uneven.
- Softer, grippier rubber compounds on hard indoor floors; deeper lugs for loose ground and outdoors.
- Tread that reaches the edges and toe. Pushing forward loads the forefoot and leaning sideways loads the sides of the soles.
- Regular replacement. Tread usually wears down long before the upper looks tired; check soles for smooth patches every few months.
Footwear is only one piece of the equation. Clean, dry floors and well-maintained cart wheels can reduce the force needed in the first place. But when push comes to shove, traction decides how much of your effort reaches the load. Good treads help you do the work.
About the Author
Carrie Taylor is the founder and principal ergonomist for Taylor'd Ergonomics Incorporated. She is a Certified Professional Ergonomist in the U.S. and Canada. She focuses on practical, hands-on training, and her team has created more than 100 microlearning modules for custodians, outdoor workers, drivers, industrial workers, distribution workers and office workers.