The electrical resistance of safety shoes is really important, this topic should be used to make a responsible purchase of safety footwear. Every type of work has its characteristics and any worker should wear the right safety shoes with the right electrical resistance. In this article I will tell you about conductive safety shoes, while in other articles I will tell you about Antistatic safety shoes, ESD safety shoes and Isolating safety shoes.
The legislation on safety footwear helps to prevent damages caused by electrostatic discharges; but also learning more about the technical plus invented by the manufacturers will help you a lot.
In this article I’ll explain to you something about conductive safety shoes.
- You work in a gas station?
- You work in a computer company?
- You work in the production of fireworks?
- You work in contact with electricity?
Well, you definitely need to choose between different types of safety shoes with different electrical resistance, you might need to choose Conductive safety shoes instead of Antistatic safety shoes, ESD safety shoes, Isolating safety shoes, now I’ll technically explain to you what exists on the market, which technical specifications you have to seek, for the perfect Conductive safety shoes for your needs.
The problem arising from not choosing the safety footwear with the right electrical resistance is that you can have many kinds of consequence, for example:
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if you are working with an electronic sensitive device and you generate an electrostatic spark you could damage the device, so you need another type of footwear (ESD safety shoes)
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if you work in contact with electricity, for example in electrical maintenance, you could be injured by an electrical shock, so you need another type of footwear (Isolating safety shoes)
That’s why I strongly recommend to you to make a good choice between Conductive safety shoes and Antistatic safety shoes, ESD safety shoes, Isolating safety shoes.
To understand this topic you should see this graphic:
Graphic taken from www.uvex-safety.com
As you can see there are different types of electrical property of the footwear depending on the resistance to the electricity.
In this article I will describe to you only Conductive safety shoes, let’s start with the marking and a fast description:
The marking of Conductive safety shoes is:
- C = Conductive footwear. Should be used to minimize electrostatic charges in the shortest possible time, for example while handling explosives. Should not be used if the risk of shock from any electrical apparatus or live parts has not been completely eliminated. After conditioning in a dry atmosphere the electrical resistance shall be < 0,1 MΩ (from 0 KΩ to 100 KΩ).
This type of product is not easy to find on the safety footwear market. It is a niche of the market and most manufacturers are not willing to have Conductive safety shoes in their catalogue because sales would be very low, so you really need a lot of patience to find the shoes for your needs.
Best CONDUCTIVE safety shoes picks by SafetyShoesToday
Conductive safety shoes are very important in some kinds of jobs, where the risk of explosions is very high, so the user needs to have the least possible electrostatic charges on his body, in order to avoid any spark that would generate an explosion.
In general Conductive safety shoes are used in the explosives industry, also by fireworks manufacturers and in the army. Also some nuclear power plants recommend Conductive safety shoes.
The “C” marking for Conductive safety shoes has to be written on the full name of the shoe, in order to be easily recognized.
The standard says that it is important that people using Conductive safety shoes don’t use them if the risk of shock from any electrical apparatus or live parts has not been completely eliminated.
The reason is that a shoe that has a so low electrical resistance is good for the above-mentioned type of work, but in the opposite situation, where high electrical resistance is needed, the shoe wouldn’t bring any help to the user. So the user has to pay attention that there is no electrical risk in the working area.
I suggest you to pay attention and not to confuse Conductive safety shoes with Antistatic safety shoes and ESD safety shoes, Conductive safety shoes have a much lower electrostatic resistance, the graphic that I have shown you before should help you in case of doubt.
Conductive safety shoes are built with a construction of the upper and a compound of the outsole that almost eliminate the resistance to electricity given by the materials that compose the footwear.
You probably know that all polymeric materials are normally electricity-resistant, so the addiction of additives to the compound of the outsoles, and some construction details on the uppers change their properties.
When choosing for a new pair of safety footwear I suggest that you ask your safety manager what type of electrical resistance you need for your footwear, and choose Conductive safety shoes when Antistatic safety shoes, ESD safety shoes and Isolating safety shoes are not required.
When you’ll have selected your Conductive safety shoes you will be protected at work.
I assure you that if you use the right Conductive safety shoes you’ll live a better working experience.
What do you think about Conductive safety shoes?
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