Static electricity or imbalance of electrical charges are formed when two materials come into contact and then are separated.
The presence of this static electricity causes much nuisance to many people especially during the winter period when the air is cold and dry. Sparks and static shocks are some of those common experiences.For many organizations, preventing static shocks or discharge is an ongoing activity.
Many ESD products are created to assist organizations to curb the build up of static electricity. Wrist straps or esd shoes are commonly used as means to drain the static charges to ground from personnel who are handling ESD sensitive items.

ANSI/ESD S20.20 standard requires personnel to wear a wrist strap when handling ESD sensitive items in a seated position. This is due to the reason that most of the time, the shoes of the sitting person does not come into contact with the ESD flooring.

As the person moves around while working, the use of wrist strap becomes inconvenient. Under this condition, esd shoes become the substitute to drain the build up of static charges on the human body.

Over the years, some organizations start to look for ways to simplify their processes.
Messy wirings, workers are often caught not wearing wrist strap during the audits and attempts to make the ESD control program more cost effective are some of the reasons behind why esd shoes are now starting to get attention from ESD practitioners in most organizations as the main defense to ground personnel either in sitting or standing position.

The ANSI/ESD S20.20 standard allows organization to tailor the ESD requirement as long as rationale and technical justification are documented in the ESD Control program plan.

Some organizations have successfully adopted esd shoes as their primary personnel grounding method. Whether there is a similar plan to do so to meet the company needs, it is recommended that evaluation is done to verify the effectiveness of esd shoes as the main defense to ground personnel.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 11:50 and is filed under ESD personnel grounding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.