ESD Flooring – An Essential Safety Device for Critical Applications

ESD flooring viz. electrostatic dissipative flooring is essential for the safety of sensitive electronic equipment and computers that can be disturbed or destroyed by surges of static electricity. This type of flooring is common in healthcare, pharmaceutical and electronic applications and in cold rooms. After installation, ESD floors must be monitored from time to time to ensure that these floors are functioning as per specification.

The ESD floor can either be electrostatic conductive or static dissipative. It is single ply, non-laminated and is available with printed graphics and logos. This flooring is slip and stain resistant, resilient to the foot and is extremely durable. Because this flooring has no separate wear layer, the color is consistent.

The ANSI ESD STM 7.1 standard deals with evaluation and monitoring of the flooring itself, while the ANSI ESD STM 97.1 and 97.2 standards deal the ESD system as a whole including the flooring, the users and their footwear.

Required frequency of testing of the flooring will vary from installation to installation depending on dirt, chemicals and other contaminants that accumulate on that floor. Testing may be done initially at 30 to 60 day intervals and the period increased if no charge build-ups are found and shortened if charge build-ups are often encountered.

Initial and later floor performance can vary widely. Resurfacing can change ESD character. New rubber flooring may show weak ESD property, but this can improve with washing. Some waxes used to enhance floor appearance can weaken ESD property.

Antistatic carpet fiber coatings do not wash away, but the coatings may disappear under particular humidity conditions or with long use. So, proper care and maintenance should be ensured. A chair castor testing device simulating one or two years of chair use over carpets is used by some carpet makers for testing ESD property of their carpets.