Every certified pair of safety shoes for industrial use carries a short string of codes stamped near the heel or printed on the box: an ISI licence number, a class letter, sometimes an EN code that few procurement teams stop to read closely. For a buyer sourcing industrial safety equipment across a plant or a multi-site facility, those codes are not decoration. They decide whether a footwear legally clears India's compliance rules and whether it protects the worker wearing it. Both the Bureau of Indian Standards and the European EN ISO 20345 committee revised their footwear marking systems in 2024, and the update changes how buyers of Mallcom Safety Footwear and other certified brands should read the tags before signing off on a bulk order.
What Do the BIS Markings on Safety Footwear Actually Certify?
The ISI mark on a pair of steel toe safety shoes is not optional branding. Under the Personal Protective Equipment - Footwear (Quality Control) Order, 2020, safety footwear sold in India must carry BIS certification against IS 15298 (Part 2), and a manufacturer cannot legally sell a footwear without it.
For years that meant IS 15298 (Part 2):2016. In 2024, BIS published a Third Revision, IS 15298 (Part 2):2024, formally superseding the 2016 edition and aligning the Indian standard with ISO 20345:2021. The mark itself stays familiar: a licence number under the standard mark, plus a Class I or Class II designation showing whether the upper is leather and textile or all-rubber and polymeric. What changes is the test data behind that mark, since BIS has been moving licensees onto the 2024 edition on roughly the same rollout timeline as the related IS 15298 parts, most of which carried a compliance cut-off around January 2025.
A footwear stamped only "IS 15298 (Part 2):2016" isn't automatically non-compliant; it may simply be stock certified before a licensee's transition completed, which is exactly why the date on the mark is worth checking rather than assuming, especially for Mallcom safety footwear bought in bulk for a compliance-audited site.
How Has the EN ISO 20345 Marking System Changed?
For safety shoes manufacturers in India selling into export markets, the parallel shift is EN ISO 20345:2022, which replaced the 2011 edition and carries a five-year overlap window running to November 2029. The biggest change is slip resistance: the old SRA, SRB and SRC codes are gone. Basic slip resistance is now baked into every certified footwear as a default requirement, with an optional SR mark for footwear that passes a tougher secondary test. Puncture resistance got more specific too. The old flat "P" marking has split into P for a metal insert, PL for a non-metallic insert tested with a 4.5 mm nail, and PS for a non-metallic insert tested with a 3 mm nail, so an S3 footwear today might actually be labelled S3, S3L or S3S depending on what sits under the sole. Fuel oil resistance (FO), once bundled automatically into most classes, is now an optional add-on marking rather than a given. Two new classes, S6 and S7, cover footwear that passes a full waterproofing test on top of the S2 or S3 package. None of this is cosmetic: a buyer comparing steel toe safety shoes across two suppliers on the strength of an "S3" tag alone could be comparing two genuinely different puncture-resistance methods.
Why Do Mallcom Safety Footwear Carry Both BIS and EN Certification?
Mallcom sells across 55-plus countries while also supplying the domestic Indian market, so most of its range of safety shoes for industrial use is certified to both standards at once rather than one or the other. The Docker high ankle footwear, for instance, is listed as compliant with EN ISO 20345:2022 and IS 15298 (Part 2):2016, with a single-density PU sole and antistatic resistance between 100 K Ohms and 1000 M Ohms. Civet, a low ankle steel toe option built for heavy engineering and iron and steel environments, carries the same dual certification along with a sole rated for 300°C contact heat and a toe cap tested to 200 joules of impact. For a facility running both an Indian compliance audit and an export order under one roof, buying from safety shoes manufacturers in India whose catalogue already carries both marks removes a step, rather than having to separately verify BIS and EN paperwork on every SKU.
What Should Procurement Teams Check Before a Bulk Order?
Reading the tag is only half the job. Before signing off on industrial safety equipment in volume, match the BIS licence number against the CM/L number BIS publishes for that manufacturer, since the mark alone can be copied but the licence record cannot. Check whether the S-class quoted actually fits the hazard: an S1 footwear, with a closed heel, antistatic properties and heel energy absorption, is fine for a dry indoor floor, but a site with loose fasteners or metal swarf on the ground needs the puncture resistance an S3, S3L or S3S rating adds. Confirm the standard edition printed on the box or invoice against the current one rather than assuming the newest stock automatically carries it, since concurrent-running periods mean older and newer editions can sit on a shelf together for months. For safety shoes for industrial use bought in bulk, ask the supplier directly which edition of IS 15298 (Part 2) covers the batch being shipped, not just the product page.
Which Mallcom Safety Footwear Range Fits Which Hazard Class?
Mallcom's catalogue of industrial safety equipment maps reasonably cleanly onto the hazard categories procurement teams are usually filling. Docker and Civet both sit in the S1 steel toe safety footwear bracket, aimed at manufacturing, warehousing and logistics floors where antistatic protection and impact resistance matter more than puncture protection underfoot. Ontilla, a high ankle nubuck leather boot, and Vivvera, also high ankle with a leather upper, add the extra ankle coverage that construction and mining sites tend to specify, while staying in the same antistatic, EN ISO certified family as the rest of the Mallcom safety footwear range. None of this replaces a site-specific risk assessment, but it does mean a buyer rarely has to go outside one catalogue to cover a heavy engineering, oil and gas or repair-and-maintenance environment in a single order.
Conclusion
Marking systems exist so a buyer doesn't have to test a footwear personally before trusting it, and the 2024 BIS revision alongside EN ISO 20345:2022 both tightened what those marks actually promise on industrial safety equipment bought at scale. For any team stocking safety shoes for industrial use, the practical takeaway is simple: check the standard edition, not just the class letter, and treat the licence number as the thing worth verifying rather than the logo. Working with established safety shoe manufacturers in India that carry dual BIS and EN certification, checked against actual licence records rather than a printed mark alone, remains the more defensible position for a compliance audit.
FAQ's
Q. What is the difference between IS 15298 (Part 2):2016 and IS 15298 (Part 2):2024?
The 2024 edition is BIS's Third Revision of the safety footwear standard, formally superseding the 2016 version and aligning it with ISO 20345:2021. Manufacturers were expected to transition their licences on roughly the same timeline as the related IS 15298 parts, most of which carried a compliance date around January 2025, so both editions may still turn up on shelves during the changeover.
Q. What does an S1 or S3 Marking mean on Steel Toe Safety Shoes?
S1 covers a closed-heel footwear with antistatic protection and heel energy absorption, suited for dry indoor work such as warehousing or light assembly. S3 adds puncture resistance and a cleated sole on top of the S1/S2 package, with the exact insert type shown by a P, PL or PS suffix depending on whether the protection underfoot is metal or non-metallic.
Q. Is BIS Certification Mandatory for Safety Footwear Sold in India?
Yes. Under the Personal Protective Equipment - Footwear (Quality Control) Order, 2020, safety footwear covered by IS 15298 (Part 2) must carry a valid BIS licence and the ISI mark before it can legally be manufactured, imported or sold anywhere in the country, regardless of whether the same footwear also carries EN or other export certification.
Q. How can a Buyer Verify that a Safety Footwear's BIS or EN Certification is Genuine?
Cross-check the licence number printed near the ISI mark against BIS's public database rather than trusting the mark alone, and ask whichever safety footwear manufacturer in India is supplying the order to confirm which edition covers that specific batch. For EN ISO 20345, the manufacturer's declaration of conformity should list the exact class and any additional markings claimed for that model.
