Anti Static Mats

Are you looking to safeguard your manufacturing or industrial setting from the risks of electrostatic discharge? Our wide range of anti-static mats is designed to provide essential static control, ensuring a safe, efficient, and compliant operation.

Anti-static ESD mats are a crucial investment for environments where the integrity of electronic components is important. These mats are not just an accessory but a necessity for flooring or benchtop applications. By integrating anti-static matting into your workspace, you take a significant step towards protecting your processes, products, and people from the unseen dangers of static discharges.

The integrity of electronic components is vital in manufacturing and industrial settings, as any damage can lead to costly downtime, lost production, and potential safety hazards. Anti-static floor mats play a critical role in mitigating these risks, ensuring worker safety and the protection of electrical equipment. Explore our range of smooth surface anti-static mats today and create a safer, more efficient work environment.

What are Anti Static Mats?

Anti-static mats, also known as ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) Mats, protect equipment and individuals from electrostatic discharges. These sudden discharges of electrical energy could cause permanent damage to sensitive components in equipment or pose a safety risk to people working with them.

Please refer to our detailed guide below to help you understand the different types of anti-static mats available, the potential risks involved, and which mat would be suitable for your needs.

How do Anti Static Mats Work?

ESD or electrostatic discharge, in layman's terms, is the transfer of static electricity from one object to another. This static electricity is caused when two or more non-conductive objects collide, forming an electrostatic field emitted from the objects' surfaces.

Out of the two objects, one object will gain a positive charge, while the other will gain a negative charge. Everyday items and materials such as wood, thin plastics, wool, cotton and carpets are all susceptible to ESD, with our skin liable to electrical charges.

For most of us, this is never anything more than a tiny pinch of pain. Still, this sudden Electrostatic Discharge can cause irreparable damage to sensitive electrical components such as Motherboards and CPUs.

With an Anti Static Mat, you can safely earth this energy before it has a chance to cause harm to us or to any electrical components we are working on. Versions of these mats have been designed specifically for floors or workbenches and are available in various materials and construction methods.

In either case, the static needs to be earthed correctly, as the mat alone will only draw the static away. This is done by using a wrist strap (for bench mats) or ankle strap (for floor mats) that connects the operator to the mat, which is then connected to an electrical socket, allowing the energy to be safely earthed.

For an anti-static mat to adequately ground an item, the item must be either dissipative or conductive as insulative items, such as plastics, will not allow charge to drain to the ground.

Anti Static Mat Benefits

When using Anti Static Matting, you can ensure protection for valuable electronic equipment plus the individuals who work with them. There are also additional benefits depending on the type of mat used.

Bench Mats – As well as protecting equipment from the dangers of ESD, using Anti Static mats on worktops also provides a certain level of padding, which helps to prevent equipment from being damaged when being moved about on hard surfaces. We would recommend using our 3-layer bench mat in this scenario. Anti Static Mats for worktops and benches are generally brighter in colour, too, making it easier to see small components like screws and nuts, tools and wires.

Floor Mats – For those who work on their feet with more significant components, specially designed Anti Static Floor Mats can be used. One of the considerable advantages of using this type of mat, such as our PremBubble, is that they also provide excellent anti-fatigue properties. Fatigue caused by prolonged standing in the workplace can lead to serious long-term health problems, usually in the form of muscle and joint conditions, so using a mat significantly reduces workplace fatigue is beneficial.