Two important elements to managing an ESD Control Plan are: controlling access to the ESD Protected Area and record keeping of personnel grounding devices – wrist strap, foot grounders, and smocks. ESD coordinators are faced with the challenge of limiting access to the ESD Protected Area to people that are properly trained to handle ESD…
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We are regularly asked if paper is OK in the ESD Protected Area or at an ESD workstation. Regular paper is insulative but tends to be low charging because it is hygroscopic (readily absorbs moisture). The primary concern with paper is placing ESD sensitive items on the paper interfering with the path-to-ground of the grounded ESD mat. Best practice…
To obtain technical information and guidance on ESD control, there are a number of sources, many available at no charge. The ESD Association sells most of their documents, but a number are available as complimentary downloads. Per ANSI/ESD S20.20, Compliance Verification of ESD Protected Area’s (EPA) ESD control items is to be per ESD TR53;…
In article titled: Reducing Risk Through Supplier Quality Audits at EBN, the author, Douglas Alexander explains that auditing your suppliers can be an effective may to reduce your risk of quality issues with your products. He notes: “Before you purchase any production material from an unknown source, you should perform the appropriate level of supplier…
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Written by: Gene Felder, Corporate Product Manager What is the ESD control requirements for battery and pneumatic powered hand tools? From ESD Handbook ESD TR20.20 section 5.5.2.2 “Battery powered and pneumatic hand tools while being held should have a resistance to ground of less than 1 x 10E12 ohms.” If tool’s housing is conductive or…
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The authors of a recent article in InCompliance Magazine titled Early Life Failure of Dissipative Workstation Mats, have confirmed that Desco’s Statfree® T2 was the top performing worksurface mat (Mat ID#4 in the article) in their study. To read the rest of the article click HERE Part of any good ESD Control Program is periodic…
For Compliance Verification periodic testing, how frequently should an ESD control item be checked? Answer: It is user defined, so it is up to you. Best practice is to test each and every ionizer, but you could also decide (if you got good results) to test a percentage of a particular ESD control item. The…
Desco has long been a supporter of the ESD Association and we have always encouraged our customers to purchase copies of standards and other documents published by the organization ANSI/ESD S20.20 (which is also available for free from the ESDA) specifies that compliance verification testing be per ESD TR53. This is the spec that companies should…
Read more Get a Complimentary Copy of the ESDA’s Compliance Verification ESD TR53