Antistatic Medical Shoes (ESD)
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Antistatic (ESD) Shoes: The Essential Protection for Your Sensitive Equipment
In a medical environment where technology is ubiquitous, controlling electrostatic discharges (ESD) has become a major issue. A simple antistatic shoe is sometimes no longer enough. The ESD shoe is an active protection, designed to preserve your expensive electronic equipment and ensure the reliability of diagnostics and surgical interventions.
How Does an Antistatic Shoe Work?
The principle is simple but essential. The human body naturally accumulates static electricity through friction. A standard shoe, with its insulating sole, traps this charge. Upon contact with an object, an electrostatic discharge occurs. An ESD (ElectroStatic Dissipative) shoe is different: it incorporates conductive materials (like carbon threads) into its sole that form a bridge. These dissipative shoes allow the accumulation of charges to flow continuously and controllably to a conductive floor, thus neutralizing any risk of a sudden discharge.
ESD vs. Antistatic Standard: What's the Difference?
It is crucial not to confuse the terms "antistatic" and "ESD," as they do not guarantee the same level of protection.
- Antistatic (A): This is a basic requirement of the EN ISO 20347 standard for professional footwear. It prevents excessive charge accumulation, but its electrical resistance range is wide.
- ESD (EN 61340 Standard): This is a much stricter standard. It requires the shoe to have a very precise electrical resistance range (between 0.1 and 100 MegaOhms). It is this precision that ensures reliable protection for the most sensitive electronic components.
For critical areas, only an ESD-certified shoe offers the required safety.
In Which Departments and for Which Professions Are They Essential?
Wearing an antistatic shoe with ESD certification is essential in all environments where a discharge could damage devices or disrupt measurements. This mainly includes:
- Operating rooms to protect monitors, electric scalpels, and other surgical devices.
- Intensive care units and recovery rooms.
- Analysis laboratories and cleanrooms.
- Medical imaging centers (radiology, MRI).
The most affected professions are therefore surgeons, anesthetists, laboratory technicians, and radiology technicians.