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ESD shoes provide optimum protection against electrostatic charges
ESD shoes: where quality and ergonomics go hand in hand
ESD shoes are crucial if you want to play it safe when assembling electronics components and maintain the necessary quality. Quality defects often become apparent here – but not always, as ESD damage is invisible. What should you do if you yourself are responsible for quality assurance? Amongst other measures, you need to ensure that ESD workstations have been correctly set up, floor mats provide protection in trouble spots, and that your staff wear ESD wristbands. The risks will be significantly reduced and quality will improve when all employees throughout the entire component manufacturing process comply with the ESD rules and consistently wear ESD shoes. Ultimately, this will keep your customers in all sectors happy and will help maintain your excellent reputation, as satisfied users of consumer electronics or high-tech cars usually become loyal customers. That’s why it is essential to wear antistatic shoes that protect against electrostatic charges according to EN ISO 20345 in ESD environments. However, anyone who thinks that ESD shoes are just traditional, bulky uniform shoes needs to think again. They’ll be amazed at the variety available today – colourful and simple, sporty and business-like, but all compliant with the ESD requirements.
Choose the correct ESD shoes
In addition to setting up an extensive Electrostatic Protected Area (EPA), wearing ESD shoes is an important means of preventing electrostatic charges and protecting electronic assemblies and components through controlled discharge.
Important: ESD shoes are not safe for electricians and other workers who work with voltage. We’ve summarised the key facts in the figure below.
The antistatic shoe requirements that safety shoes need to meet according to EN ISO 20345 are meant to protect the wearer from any risks posed by electrostatic charge. Antistatic shoes restrict the electrical resistance of a shoe, which is what differentiates them from insulating or conductive shoes.
To protect electronic assemblies against electrostatic phenomena, DIN EN 61340-5-1 restricts this antistatic range even further. Shoes are classed as ESD shoes when the electrical resistance of the person-shoe-floor system is above 1 x 105 Ω or 0.1 M Ω and below 3.5 x 107 Ω or 35 M Ω. An ESD-capable shoe is thus also always an antistatic shoe.
Who needs ESD shoes, and at what points?
Providing the right foot protection in industrial manufacturing environments is always an issue! ESD shoes are always the tried-and-tested solution of choice if you manufacture electronics, semiconductors or medical devices and components. These types of parts and components can now be found virtually everywhere, due in no small part to how quickly we are transitioning to a digital world. Your biggest enemy in this regard is electrostatic discharge, or ESD for short, as it can cause invisible damage to electronic components. That’s why it’s so important to protect the components. You can even do something good for your employees’ feet at the same time. Make our ESD shoes a cornerstone of a comprehensive ESD protection strategy that also includes work clothing, ESD workstations, floor mats, workplace mats and other accessories such as barrier tape and wristbands.
Do you have any questions? We would be pleased to advise you on your ESD shoes!
The Hoffmann Group provides you with everything from a single source:
- We would be pleased to help you choose the right products in line with your ESD inspection plan
- We can provide the help you need to set up your EPA as stipulated in your ESD inspection plan
You can reach us by telephone, e-mail or fax.
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You can find an explanation of the key terms relating to ESD/EPA here:
To ESD glossary