The electrical resistance of safety shoes is really important, this topic should be used to do 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 antistatic safety shoes “SD”.
The legislation on safety footwear helps to prevent damages caused by electrical discharges; but also learning more about the technical plus invented by manufacturers will help you a lot.
In this article I’ll explain to you something about Static Dissipative safety shoes “SD”, because on the market there are a number of footwear solutions for this purpose.
I bet you’ll be surprised by how easy it is to find the perfect product for yourself!
- You work in a computer company?
- You work in the production of fireworks?
Well, you definitely need to choose between different types of safety shoes with different electrical resistance, you might need to choose Static Dissipative safety shoes “SD” instead of “EH” Eletrical Hazard safety shoes.
Now I’ll technically explain to you what exists on the market and which technical specifications you have to look for the perfect antistatic safety shoes “SD” for your needs.
The problem arising from not choosing safety footwear with the most befitted electrical resistance is that you can have many kinds of consequences, for example:
- if you are working with an electronic sensitive device and you generate an electrical spark you could damage the device, so you need another type of footwear (SD safety shoes)
- if you work with explosives you could generate an electrical spark that generates an explosion, so you need another type of footwear (SD safety shoes)
That’s why I strongly recommend that you make a good choice among SD safety shoes and EH safety shoes.
There are different types of electrical property of the footwear, depending on the resistance to electricity.
In this article I will describe to you only the SD static dissipative safety shoes, let’s start with the marking and a fast description.
The marking of the antistatic safety shoes is: SD
- SD = “Static Dissipative” footwear (ASTM F2413-11). The static dissipative footwear falls in the electrical resistance range of 106 to 108 ohms, the aim is to protect the user from the electrostatic build up charges on the body in some workplaces, consequently it cannot guarantee adequate protection against electrical shock as it only has a small resistance between the foot and the floor.
While in Europe the majority of safety shoes are antistatic, in the US it is exactly the opposite (the most part is EH, SD is a niche).
SD safety shoes, selected by SafetyShoesToday:
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
SD PR safety shoes (with a perforation resistant plate), selected by SafetyShoesToday:
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
The construction of the static dissipative safety shoes SD
The static dissipative safety shoes are built by a construction method of the upper and a compound of the outsole that reduce the electrical resistance of the materials composing the footwear. You probably know that all polymeric materials are normally electricity-resistant, so the presence of additives in the compound of the outsoles change their properties, plus some construction details on the uppers.
When looking for a new pair of safety footwear I suggest you to ask your safety manager what type of electrical resistance you need for your footwear, and choose Static dissipative safety shoes when EH (Electrical Hazard) safety shoes are not required.
When you’ll have selected over the many SD safety shoes you will be protected at work.
I guarantee you that if you use the right Static Dissipative SD safety shoe you’ll live a better working experience.
What do you think about Antistatic safety shoes?
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