Posted By Tyler Devices like you have described are and have been available for some time. Visitors to printing works often wear the devices (effectively an overshoe with a earthing strip that goes inside the shoe allowing earth leakage). Unfortunately I do not have the details to hand, however, I am sure that enquiring with the usual providers for PPE should lead to a supplier. If I find the supplier details I shall post them on this site. Apologies for the lack of detail. Tyler

Posted By Alec Wood An ESD heel strap is what you require. This device fits over the heel of the shoe and a conductive fibre tape is put inside the sock in contact with the skin. These are available from most commercial equipment suppliers e.g. RS, ARCO etc. Have a look also at trainer style safety shoes, many of which have an ESD conductive sole. Alec Wood Viewtek Display Services

Posted By Ian Bennett Hi, This may seem a bit rediculous but talking to an electrician about this some time ago. He had heard that there is some liquid you can use to reduce the static in carpets called 'Ronel'. Basically is sold for about £10 per litre by a professional contract cleaner This is diluted and sprayed onto the carpet. The only thing is I do not know if the problem was reduced. Or if it created further slip hazards. The electrician recognised the fragrance which turned out to be a bottle of 'Lenor' the fabric conditioner relabelled. Although I am guaranteed that the room smelled fresh.

Posted By Broderick Paul Thanks for all the advice, its the heel strap set up that I'm after: the overshoes would look a little out of place in an office setting and would transfer the problem from static to stress (well I wouldn't wear them). I'll see if I can track down some straps. Cheers Brod

Posted By Keith P Barker As usual a plethera of advice from the H&S faternity which is very encouraging. However, what is the route cause? for the problem. The person, (doubtful). The carpet (contributory). The trainers, (contributory,what they are made of). Obviously all has been done with regards the earthing of PC's, tables etc, therefore would it be reasonably practicable to change the carpet? or would it be reasonably practicable in Time, Cost and Effort to provide an alternative, suitable pair of trainers/deck shoes which will resolve the static issue and be comfortable for the employee at work. Regards

Posted By Alec Wood The cause of your static build up is not one single item, other than the obvious physical rubbing of shoe on carpet and of the clothes against each other on the body. These natural processes lead to a build up of charge on the body which usually leaks away to earth. A combination of factors in some instances prevents this from happening and people start instead to suddenly discharge to any earth object they touch. So it is not so much a case of them getting a shock of the desk, rather them giving the desk a shock. You can improve the dissipation of static in a number of ways. Sprays similar to fabric conditioner can be applied to the carpets, earthing strips placed underneath them, the humidity of the atmosphere increased (centrally heated buildings can develop a very low humidity atmosphere), increase the awareness of staff in the mechanisms of static generation and encourage them to wear natural fibres less likely to generate static. Directly earthing the desk frames can also help, but it is generally better to make the connection through a 10 megohm resistor to avoid sudden uncomfortable discharges. Static dissipative flooring materials are also available, but I have found the spray application to be effective. This is topped up by the cleaning staff on a regular basis who just use a hand spray bottle and spray a little bit about when they're hoovering. These questions have all been regulars for me as an electronic engineer throughout my career, but I have have never been able to find a single magic button to fix the problem. Email me directly if you wish to discuss this further - technical electronics topics may not be thought appropriate for an H&S forum. For further information on static buildup and discharge you should look for works on ESD, Electro-Static Discharge. Alec Wood Viewtek Display Services Ltd