ESD or Antistatic Safety Shoes, which is best for your needs? Antistatic and Electro Static Discharge (ESD) safety shoes can conduct heat and electricity.

Fortunately, this means that if the user comes into contact with electricity, the safety footwear will send the dangerous current to the ground to prevent static shock or spark.

Now:

These conductive safety shoes get commonly used in industries where the static shock is troublesome.

It can cause a dangerous fire or explosion, putting all the employees and the business in danger.

Antistatic and ESD safety footwear is different from EH-rated safety shoes, which protect the user from completing the electrical circuit.

Antistatic Safety Shoes vs. ESD Safety Shoes

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) shoes¹ have similarities with Antistatic footwear.

However

ESD has a lower resistance range. All ESD shoes that are compliant are antistatic², but the problem is that not all antistatic shoes are ESD compliant.

Below are the essential differences between the two safety shoes:

Antistatic Safety Shoes

• These shoes have a low electrical resistance between 0.1 and 1000 MegaOhm (MΩ).³
• Norm – EN 20344: 2011 5 10
• By using antistatic safety shoes, you are preventing an accumulation of static electrical charges throughout your body.
• Prevention occurs by delivering these electrical charges safely to the ground.
• An abrupt flow of electricity gets stopped between electrically charged objects produced by the contact.
• Adequate dispelling capacity
• Tested in production 100%

ElectroStatic Discharge (ESD Shoes)

• ESD safety shoes have a resistance range that is much lower and between 0.1 and 100 (MΩ).
• Norm – BS EN 61340-4-3: 2002 (IEC 61340-4-3:2001)
• By using ESD safety shoes, you are preventing an accumulation of static electrical charges throughout your body.
• The delivery of these electrical charges goes safely to the ground.
• These shoes are guaranteed to avoid the abrupt flow of electricity between electrically charged objects triggered by the contact.
• 100% Tested in production
• Meager electric resistance is a guarantee in all conditions

ESD in Various Industries

Several different industries use ESD and antistatic shoes to protect the company’s equipment from electrostatic discharges.

Other sectors where these work shoes get used are:

• aerospace
• manufacturing
• electrical engineers
• battery manufacturing
• hospitals
• computer equipment manufacturing
• semiconductor manufacturing

ESD is necessary to prevent several injuries at the workplace.

When there is an uncontrollable release of static charges, the following can occur:

• gas, fuel vapor⁴, or coal dust explosions
• failure of solid-state electronics components

For companies to protect their employees, it is crucial to ensure that they have the correct footwear, such as ESD or antistatic safety shoes.

ESD classes

There are different climate classes that shoes with ESD protection undergo to ensure they perform at their best.

For instance, the temperature and humidity content within the shoe will affect its electrical resistance.

These climate classes get divided into 1, 2, and 3.

You see

The ESD class in climate class 1 concerns the highest temperature and the lowest humidity.

When the electrical resistance is between 0.1 and 100 MΩ, the safety shoes have passed the class 1 testing.

These shoes will have certified their low electrical resistance.

The three categories get distinguished by the moment of humidity, temperature, and conditioning.

All testing for the ESD properties of the safety shoe’s ESD certifications gets done in a laboratory.

Simply put

The safety shoes need to have less than 100 megaohms to be certified ESD.

By being at this point, the climate class will get approved for the certification.

Common Questions

In Conclusion

Companies, where the static shock is a concern and a danger to the facility, must ensure their safety.

Employers need to enforce their employees to wear the correct safety work boots.

ESD shoes or antistatic shoes help to conduct the current into the ground to prevent static shock or spark.

It’s true

ESD or Antistatic safety shoes are both useful in industries that bring the worker in contact with the risk of static shock. By putting the correct safety measures in place and ensuring workers wear ESD or Antistatic safety shoes, employers can have peace of mind that their workers are being kept safe.