How Shoe Grounders Work

Since ESD can occur by induction, you want to make sure visitors are grounded. Not be grounded and in proximity to machines or electronics can cause an ESD event to occur that causes the machine to shut down suddenly or permanently damages the electronics.

When we go to handle electronics we want to make sure we are not electrically isolated, but instead electrically bonded (also known as “being grounded”). This allows those static electrons to discharge from our clothes and skin to the ground beneath our feet. Wearing a heel grounder connected to an electrically bonded floor or floor mat is a common way to “ground” large assembly lines.

The bonded surface can be a coated floor, an anti static mat roll laid out as “floor runner”, or a workstation floor mat.

Connected to the tire-grade rubber heel is a conductive silver thread that tucks into your sock. The thread draws static electricity from your skin’s surface so that it grounds you and the shoe as one unit.

The way this works is that as the heel grounders make contact with electrically bonded surfaces (mats or floors) the electricity that was static on your shoes and skin is dissipated- literally falls into the Earth under the force of gravity.