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In the Electronics manufacturing line or assembly, we will notice that a variety of ESD materials and ESD equipments are used as part of an ESD control system to protect the ESD sensitive items from ESD damage.
Some of the ESD materials are:
• ESD wrist strap
• ESD flooring material
• ESD shoes
• ESD garment
• ESD foot grounder
• ESD mat
Some of the ESD equipments are:
• ESD hand tool
• ESD air ionizer
• ESD trolley or ESD cart
As there are many electronic devices, materials and equipments used in the ESD protected area, it is important for the employee to be able to distinguish those ESDS electronic devices, ESD materials or ESD equipments from those that are not.
The electronic devices that are susceptible to ESD damage can be distinguished through the ESD susceptibility symbol which it is either paper labeled or molded permanently on the plastic packaging that hold them.
The ESD susceptibility symbol has a reaching hand inside a triangle, with a slash across the hand. Although the color for the symbol is arbitrary, the common color is yellow for the hand with black as the background. Red color, however is not allowed as it suggests hazard to employee.
When the ESD susceptibility symbol is seen on a packaging material, it basically means that the devices inside the packaging is susceptible to ESD damage and necessary ESD precaution is required by the employee when handling the devices.
Similarly the ESD materials and ESD equipments can be distinguished through the ESD protective symbol placing on them.
The ESD protective symbol has a reaching hand inside a triangle and an arc outside the triangle. The arc is in bold. Again the color for the symbol is arbitrary; the common color used is yellow for the hand and black as the background. Red color, however is not allowed as it suggests hazard to employee.
When ESD protective symbol is seen on the any material or equipment, it simply means that the material or the equipment is safe to be used in the EPA area. They are able to provide protection to the ESDS electronic devices or assemblies being handled.
ESD symbol or ESD marking for ESDS electronic devices, ESD material and ESD equipment are crucial in the ESD Control program. Without them, many of the ESDS electronic devices may be wrongly handled without proper ESD precaution and many of the ESD materials or ESD equipments may be wrongly interpreted of their functionality.
ESD symbol or ESD marking on ESD materials or ESD equipments is definitely an advantage. However, it still remain the responsibility of the ESD coordinator to select and evaluate the ESD materials and ESD equipments by following the ESD documents and standards to ensure the material or equipments are fit for use in the EPA.
