Are ESD smocks redundant?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Pack34
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2018, 12:20:32 am
content: If all of the transport containers are ESD safe, the benches covered in ESD mats, the floors are ESD, and you even require ESD shoes... aren't ESD smocks/lab coats a bit overkill and unnecessary? I get that it can be a good idea if you're wearing a fuzzy sweater but if you just have a dress code that prohibits static generating clothing than it's a bit unnecessary.Thoughts?

author: Sceadwian
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 04, 2018, 04:16:14 am
content: It all depends on whether or not a zap is going to set you back 10 cents or 10,000 dollars. That stuff I'm sure is frequently redundant, but in a production environment who knows what kind of problems you never see because of such preventative measures. When in Rome do as the Roman's do, and make sure you know who's in charge so you can blame them for telling you how to do it

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2018, 06:09:04 am
content: If you went to all that trouble for ESD you might as well go all the way and wear the right coat too.Clothes are actually the easiest way to generate static. They have a large surface area and they make friction all over as you move around. In winter its quite common that taking off certain kinds of clothing produces so much static that i can hear it crackling and feel my arm hair standing up. Sometimes this can leave you charged up so much that it gives you a painful shock when touching a metal object. These kinda of shocks really are instant chip killers (Even for pretty rugged digital chips).I don't really take any ESD precautions, except regularly touching grounded things. If if i change clothing i do it a step away from the bench and then touch something like a BNC on a scope afterwards. When working on PCs i first touch the metal case.In my opinion having ESD mats and leaning your arms onto it is enough to keep away ESD problems. But if you are handling expensive and particularly sensitive components in production you do want to go all the way. Some fancy RF stuff is incredibly delicate, some can even be blown up by the voltage from a multimeters continuity beeper across it. For these sensitive components in mass production id say a ESD wrist strap is mandatory and banning certain kinds of clothing.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2018, 06:19:10 am
content: My partner worked at a CM that did occasional military/aerospace stuff, and one day she and the shop supervisor were talking about oddball packages, so the supervisor pulls out a tray of some sort of weirdo ceramic CGA devices--and casually mentioned that they cost their customer $50,000 each. Apparently the company went bankrupt or something a few years before, so they we just holding down one of the shelves in the component store, but you can imagine that if you're running an assembly job involving something like a million bucks in parts, a $20 ESD smock looks like pretty cheap insurance.Plus it's a lot easier to enforce ESD safe attire if it's just a matter of making sure everyone's got their blue smock on, rather than having to, I dunno, check clothing tags? Demand that your employees sign an affidavit that they always use fabric softener?

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2018, 07:08:30 am
content: Turn up in the lab one day with an acrylic jumper on and you’ll find out why you need smocksThey are the worst item of clothing to wear ever invented I will say though.