ALS Labs Ltd produce a range of ESD and ASD furniture, having previously supplied Ministry of Defence and counter-terror sites with bespoke furniture designed specifically to prevent electrostatic discharge to sensitive devices and volatile material within protected areas, for both explosives safety and digital forensics purposes.

It is a narrow field with comparatively few UK manufacturers, and one where the specification tends to be written by the end user rather than chosen from a catalogue; we work to whatever your requirement states rather than to a standard product.

What ESD furniture is actually for

Ordinary laboratory worksurfaces are not specified for static control, so charge is free to build and to discharge where it is not wanted. In most laboratories that is a nuisance at worst, but there are two settings where it matters a great deal.

The first is where the work involves components that a static discharge can damage or destroy; unpackaged electronic assemblies and recovered devices under forensic examination both fall into this category, and the damage is frequently invisible rather than obvious. The second is where the surrounding material is itself sensitive to an energetic discharge, which is why the requirement appears in explosives safety contexts.

In both cases the objective is the same: charge should be conducted away in a controlled manner rather than being allowed to build and then discharge suddenly.

Conductive, dissipative, or insulative

ESD control materials are generally classified by their surface resistance, running from conductive at the lower end, through static dissipative in the middle range, to insulative at the top. The distinction matters because the correct answer is rarely the most conductive option available; a surface that drains charge too rapidly is unsuitable for some applications, and specifications commonly call for a dissipative range rather than a conductive one.

In our experience the requirement is set by the end user rather than chosen by us, and on defence and forensic work it has generally arrived as the client's own written specification. We manufacture to the resistance or conductivity range that specification sets out; where one has yet to be written, we can advise on what is achievable with the materials available to us.

Materials and construction

We can provide specialist advice on available materials, along with design and manufacture to suit your resistance or conductivity specification, using a wide range of materials including specialist surfaces and coatings. We can equally advise on the capabilities of more typical laboratory furniture materials and surfaces, which is often the more useful conversation; a good deal of what is sold as antistatic is not appropriate for controlled areas, whilst some conventional materials perform better than their datasheets suggest.

Beyond the worksurface itself, an ESD installation needs a route to earth, and that requires the bonding and earthing provision to be considered as part of the furniture design rather than added afterwards. Frame construction, fixings and the junctions between adjacent benches all matter here.

Where it is specified

• Defence and counter-terror sites, including explosives safety applications
• Digital forensics laboratories, where recovered devices are examined
• Electronics manufacture, test and rework
• Pharmaceutical and R&D laboratories housing sensitive instrumentation

We are accustomed to working on sites where discretion forms part of the brief, and to the documentation and vetting requirements that tend to accompany them.

ALS Labs holds Cyber Essentials certification covering the whole organisation rather than a defined subset of it, where that forms part of a client's procurement requirement.

Made to order, in the UK

As with all of our offerings, electrostatic and antistatic furniture is made in house to order at our factory in Essex, using the same CAD/CAM lead HOMAG CNC machinery and the same steel framework designs as the rest of our laboratory furniture ranges. For a defence or forensic client that also means UK supply chain provenance, and drawings and machining data retained against future replacement.

ESD benching can be supplied as a standalone run or integrated into a wider fitout alongside fume cupboards, storage and modular systems.

Our electrostatic and ventilation work is led by Gary Sprawling, Managing Director, accredited by the Institute of Local Exhaust Ventilation Engineers (ILEVE), whose career stemmed from an HNC in electrical engineering.