You’ve spent the money, painted or installed your Anti Static floor. All sorted – right? No need to do anything else is there?

Assuming you have followed the manufacturers instructions correctly your floor should be working and static is being removed quickly and safely. How do you know for certain though? One year, two years, three years down the line, is it still working for you?

The reality is you need to test your floor as part of your regular QA checks. Once a month should be sufficient.

How to test your floor

The simplest method is to use a hand held surface resistance meter. These measure surface resistance point to point in accordance with EN 61340-5-1 Electrostatics and its test method IEC 61340-2-3. These meters are relatively cheap to buy, you push them firmly on to the floor and press a ‘test’ button. An LED display will then tell you where your surface sits on the conductivity scale, Conductive, Static Dissipative or, heaven forbid, Insulative!

You should take readings at various points on the floor, not just at one spot. You need to make sure that all of the floor is doing its job, not just one part of it. Take special care to check areas of excessive wear or where the surface appears damaged.

 

You can buy a more sophisticated meter that comes in a kit with weights and will give a more accurate measurement but for most companies the hand held meters are sufficient.

Testing Frequency

Measuring your floor and recording the results is a two minute job,once a month. It is not a big effort and it ensures that your investment in static protection is continuously working for you.

If you have any questions regarding your ESD floor please contact us at [email protected]

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