Steel toes protect the feet. Nothing protects the back that bends in them all day. Say thanks out loud.

Safety equipment covers the injuries that happen in a second, not the ones that accumulate. A boot stops a dropped weight, and nothing on the list stops twenty years of lifting, standing and bending, which is the damage that gets carried home every evening. There is no gear for the gradual kind.

Say it out loud to whoever in your life works like that, because the slow cost almost never gets mentioned. Be specific about the back, the knees, the hours rather than the job. Then take something physical off them for one evening, and if you are heading into that work yourself, learn how to lift properly now.