An ESD audit is most useful when it checks the real movement of people, materials, tools, and components. A line may have wrist straps, mats, and packaging in place, but static control fails when one link in the daily process is missed. This checklist is written for electronics assembly supervisors who want a practical review before failures become expensive.
1. Check personnel grounding before entry
Operators are a major source of electrostatic charge because movement, clothing, chairs, and footwear can all create voltage on the body. At the start of each shift, verify wrist straps and footwear with an appropriate tester. For combined entry checks, see Marvel Products’ Wrist Strap and Footwear Tester. For spot checking charge carried by people, the Human Body Voltage Checker is a useful audit instrument.
2. Measure work surfaces, not just appearance
An ESD mat can look clean and still be unsafe if the path to ground is broken or the surface resistance has drifted. Check benches, tables, trolleys, racks, and any fixture that touches boards. Use a surface resistance instrument such as the Digital Surface Resistivity Meter and keep readings in your audit record.
3. Inspect packaging and storage movement
Assemblies often leave a controlled workbench and travel through stores, inspection, packing, and dispatch. Use ESD-safe packaging for finished boards and sensitive spares. Link the audit to the available Antistatic Packaging range and verify that operators know when to use antistatic bags, bubble bags, or shielding bags.
4. Look for process-specific static sources
Plastic films, rollers, dry air, ungrounded containers, ordinary tools, and moving sheets can create static away from the electronics bench. Where static is generated on moving surfaces, review the Static Eliminator AC Bar and the broader Static Eliminators category.
A good audit ends with action: record failures, assign ownership, retest after correction, and repeat the audit at a fixed interval. ESD control is not a single product purchase; it is a maintained system.