ESD Systems - Questions And Answers

I would like information on the Elastic Adjustable Wrist Strap. My particular work environment is a cleanroom, are wrist straps effective if they do not contact skin. It seems the rubber glove the employees have to wear would act as an insulator between the body and the outside of the glove. Thus the body would be grounded but the outside of the glove would possibly still have a charge. I would like to place the wrist strap outside of the rubber glove for this reason. Let me know what you think.

You are right “the rubber glove ... would act as an insulator between the body and the outside of the glove.” The path to ground for the removal of electrostatic charges is via the moisture on a person’s skin. A proper electrical contact is absolutely necessary between the Wrist Band and the user’s skin. The most frequent area for failure that we see is a user having too dry skin necessitating the use of ESD lotion. Instead of a soft elastic band, this product is a Speidel® Twist-O-Flex® Metal Expansion Wrist Strap. Although we claim no clean room expertise, it is our understanding that particulation and ability to clean would be superior with this product. I believe there is such a product as antistatic latex gloves which claim to be low in particulates and extractables, however, we does not offer this product and it would not solve the problem unless it was also dissipative. If you would like to be on our mailing list, please provide your address. Please consider us a resource to provide technical information to help you to optimize your ESD control program. We can be your ESD staff.

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