How to approach technician colleagues ignoring ESD precautions

[biank88]

Hi everybody,
I need some help in dealing with fellow technicians apparently ignoring any ESD precautions.
How do you explain the importance of preventing ESD on electronics assemblies to your fellow colleagues (or even your boss) without being the smart alec of the situation?
Thanks in advance

[beanflying]

HP had a part # for it. Apply anywhere on the cranium or the back of the offending hands with the benefit of timber being static resistant 

[nctnico]

I usually keep it short and light like:
'You are not wearing your jewelry' (wrist band)
'Let's put a mat on the table first'
'wrist strap?'

People know the how & why so lectures are not needed. Just set the example.

[Syntax Error]

Simple. Print this message large on yellow paper and pin it to the staff notice board.

No ESD protection = No job

[nctnico]

Simple. Print this message large on yellow paper and pin it to the staff notice board.

No ESD protection = No job

Doesn't work because people don't read. Early in the Covid-19 pandemic I went to the dentist. There where several big signs right in your face telling you to 1) disinfect your hands 2) take a facemask and put it on. Even a blind person couldn't miss it. Yet there where people walking in not following the steps. Don't want to start a Covid-19 pro/con discussion; just want to point out that you can't assume people read signs.

[nali]

If you want to try to argue against the "I've been handling boards for years, never blown anything up" types, show them a few pics of latent ESD damage where silicon traces are just hanging on by a thread waiting to fail in the field after a few extreme temperature swings.

[AndyC_772]

If you find a good answer to this, please share.

In a previous job - which I didn't stay in for long - I was the only hardware engineer in a room full of software engineers. This meant that I was, by default, the go-to person every time a board "just stopped working".

I bought a long roll of ESD matting and cut a nice, custom fitted ESD mat for every engineer's desk. I gave everyone a wrist strap and a grounding plug, and I made sure everyone knew that ESD usually *doesn't* cause boards to fail immediately - but does shorten their lifetime.

Though nobody liked being told that "yes, you actually do need to change how you work because it's objectively, scientifically, demonstrably wrong", the flow of boards that "just stopped working" dried up almost overnight. I wasn't popular, but that was OK.

[ogden]

How do you explain the importance of preventing ESD on electronics assemblies to your fellow colleagues (or even your boss) without being the smart alec of the situation?

I would start with The Boss. Easy way to convince - show success story of competitor. Also let him think about potential losses caused by employee zapping manufacturing equipment/instrument. Also remind him that zapped products may not reveal faults during manufacturing but after some time during their field use. It could result into various direct/indirect damages for company.

[lordium]

This reminds me of when some colleagues bought some "wireless" straps because the wired ones were too annoying.

[Terry Bites]

I use a 2m long brass rod. Earthed at one end, poked in techs neck at the other.

[Siwastaja]

I would start with The Boss. Easy way to convince - show success story of competitor. Also let him think about potential losses caused by employee zapping manufacturing equipment/instrument. Also remind him that zapped products may not reveal faults during manufacturing but after some time during their field use. It could result into various direct/indirect damages for company.

Exactly this. Remember to take the proof with you. This includes appnotes from reputable big names, microscope photographs of latent damage if you can find it, statistics, and so on.

[wraper]

I once had an argument with a colleague at mobile phone repair service. I had to move to another bench which was brand new. I was making ESD wiring to bench mat, floor mat, etc. He was asking why do I even bother? He had those mats but no wiring whatsoever. He said if I had ever seen phones damaged by ESD. I replied with, how many working phones you took apart, assembled back and they no longer worked? He shut up.

[JKTreu]

If it's your boss: Just make a frightened face every time he tries to grab an ESD sensitive assembly/device. If he's doing that in the winter with rubber soles I think a muffled scream is the appropriate reaction to signalize your discomfort witnessing this situation.

If it's a colleague that should know better: There are ESD monitoring devices that detect and log ESD events, which might be a nice tool to demonstrate especially bad behavior around ESD-sensitive devices.
Like this:
The main problem with ESD damage is that it may just degrade some parameters instead of killing the device outright.