Everything at our place was built by workers wearing flip-flops, even while doing stuff like cutting and welding steel. They might take them off sometimes when climbing over a rooftop or something.
I was working on a project on my CNC and accidentally knocked a 12" square piece of 3/4" MDF onto my Nike-clad foot. It hit corner down on the bridge of my foot. Had me limping for several days.
Do what you want, but it doesn't take something massive to do damage. An unlucky incident is all it takes. But hey, if you're into taking those kinds of chances, no skin off anyone else's toes
Sorry to hear about your foot.
You are using the wrong pronoun, as I agree with you. It wasn't ME wearing flip-flops while building houses. The builders wear what they want. Mostly they wouldn't know where to buy proper boots, even if they could afford them. You might say I should insist they wear this or that, and sometimes I even do that, but that won't get them wearing proper footwear.
I imagine that when you invite a professional tradesperson/contractor to do a job at your home, you don't usually tell them what expensive safety equipment to use. They'd probably just politely tell you to mind your own business. Same here.
Like many people already know, I'm talking about Thailand and lax safety regulations/habits, awareness is not great. It is like another world. Even so, in my experience the workers take a great amount of care and serious incidents are thankfully rare. Did I mention that it gets very hot & humid in Thailand, and that the culture requires removal of footwear before entering any "clean" space (like a home, or even just sitting on a mat to eat lunch)?
If it was ME working all day on a building site then I'd be sure to wear some proper boots. Still probably wouldn't bother for most small jobs though because those cultural rules also apply to me. Maybe I need some decent slip-ons? Yeah maybe I do