How to choose Anti-static, ESD, or Insulated safety shoes?

Except for the steel toe safety shoes, people who work in certain environments will need safety shoes with certain functions. For example, once there's a customer emailed us to inquire about ESD (Electric Static Discharge) safety shoes. He needs ESD for his work. If our safety shoes cannot meet the requirement, he will have to cancel the order and return the shoes. Our technicians tested immediately the same shoes and then emailed him the test result. It can perfectly meet ESD standards.

So what is ESD? First of all, we must know another concept of anti-static. People may be familiar with the following story. In a cold winter, a man wears thick clothes. He has finished parking the car and is trying to leave the seat. When his hand touches the outside metal of this car, an electric shock may happen suddenly. Indeed, nobody likes that kind of feeling. Luckily, in that story, the electric shock caused by static is not as strong as powerful electricity.

In most cases, static cannot cause a health problem. But it may, sometimes, turn up in a format of sparkle. Sparkle is very dangerous in some environments, such as fuel stations, power plants, chemical plants, and flour mills. People who work in hazardous sites must wear anti-static shoes that can discharge the static into the ground to avoid any sparkle. Anti-static is a general concept about discharging static electricity. But some people who work in labs require more than zero sparkles. They demand zero electric static on their body at any time. Therefore the standard of ESD (Electric Static Discharge) is created.

People use the ohm gauge to test the shoes. If the number is between 0 to 1000, it can meet the Anti-static requirement. ESD standard requires 0 to 10. Our test result is 6.55. Safetoe work shoes can perfectly meet the ESD standard. Anti-static is not a problem. The model code of the tested safety shoes is L-7331. Safetoe is a professional safety shoe manufacturer with more than ten years of experience. This pair of shoes tested at the beginning story of this article can deliver a good performance.

We may have another question. Are all Safetoe shoes anti-static or ESD? The answer is no. People who work with high-voltage systems might also need insulated shoes. Insulated shoes can provide electrical insulation for voltage levels below 1000 V.  

Safetoe may make two versions for each model. One version is anti-static, and the other is insulated. Customers can always find suitable Safetoe shoes or boots to meet their requirements.

Safetoe safety shoes and boots are certified by EU CE, UK UKCA, US ASTM, and CA CSA. Whether insulated or anti-static shoes can deliver the correct performance to meet the requirement. However, none of the products can do both at the same time. As explained above, they are opposite each other. Insulated shoes cannot discharge any electric static. But to avoid dangers, the anti-static and ESD shoes must discharge all static.

Anti-static, ESD, or Insulated, which one to choose? It depends on your work environment. If you want to kill all the electric static sparkles, anti-static is a good choice, as the cost is much lower than ESD. But a little electric static may cause magnetic. So the laboratory demands ESD. The insulated shoes can prevent any buildup of static electricity.