ESD-PROTECT – Nothing less will do
You know this too: you thoughtlessly go to the door, touch the metal handle and get a shock. The spark didn't just metaphorically jump over. Shock me! Good thing nothing more happened.
What is usually just a trivial matter in private life can have very serious consequences in professional life. Just think of an airbag triggered during installation, a dust explosion or the brief sizzle of the motherboard in a (super)computer. That can be painful and expensive.
ESD-Protect protects you and your environment from electrostatic discharge. A safety feature that almost all STABILUS® Safety safety shoes, sandals and boots come with ex works.
ESD – Electrostatic Discharge
ESD protection is not a minor detail. It is crucial for your safety at work.
In everyday work, we talk about ESD – Electrostatic Discharge. When the spark jumps, the previously built-up electrical voltage is discharged through the body. This can generate up to 30,000 volts – invisible, but effective. Even 100 volts are enough to erase a magnetic data carrier. 5 to 20 volts can permanently damage a computer hard drive. Without ESD protection, a person becomes an uncontrolled lightning rod. This can be painful and expensive.
ESD-Protect can prevent this.
ESD becomes even more dangerous where flammable gases, liquids, dust, or foils are processed. Small sparks often go unnoticed but can be sufficient to ignite fires. In dusty environments, such as mills or silos, a single spark can, in extreme cases, even lead to an explosion and endanger human lives.
ESD-Protect from STABILUS® Safety protects you from this.
Safety shoes with guiding system
This is where STABILUS® Safety's ESD-Protect technology comes into its own. A consistently conductive system is integrated into the safety shoes: A conductive outsole, a conductive insole, and a matching footbed protect the wearer of STABILUS® Safety work shoes. The body is controlledly grounded and discharged with every step. The person does not become electrostatically charged. And where there is no charge, there is no discharge.
But be careful: This protection chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Even a non-conductive, unapproved insole interrupts the current flow - and turns the wearer back into an unpredictable source of danger. Reliable protection is offered by original STABILUS® Safety insoles or type-tested, approved orthopedic insoles.
By the way: ESD is always antistatic, but antistatic is not always ESD
The following diagram shows the different resistance values and their effect on conductive, antistatic, and insulating footwear.
