The present work proposes a method to reduce the electrostatic charge (ESC) generated on the the polymeric floor materials and polypropylene shoes used in hospitals. Copper strips are adhered to the back of the floor material and grounded to guarantee the leakage of the generated ESC when polypropylene shoes sliding against the floor. Based on the experimental tests, it is observed that ESC has increased with increasing the number of strips, due to the generation of the double layer of ESC on the sliding surfaces. Thus, an electric field is generated leading to the generation of an extra ESC especially in the presence of copper strips. The increase of ESC consequently increases the adhesion force between the two surfaces, which lead to the increase friction coefficient. This observation can reduce the risk of slip accidents. The presence of water/chlorine wet surface decreases the voltage lower than that generated at dry condition, where the water distributed the ESC. However, the friction coefficient slightly decreases (7 %), which confirms the safety of the floor material and prevents slip accidents during walking especially in the presence of water. The grounding system significantly decreases the voltage in floor material fitted by six strips by 79%.
Rehab et al. (Sun,) studied this question.