Electric Shocks from office furniture

starn

I keep getting electric shocks any time I touch anything remotly metalic. It's been happening me all day. Can anyone tell me how to stop this from happening. I moved two a new office three months ago and I normally spend most of my day in town on appointments. However today for various reasons I'am confined to the office and I keeping building up static charges. It's not funnyu anymore I wiped clean two memory sticks, and it's seriously begining to p1ss me off. Is there anything I can do about it. I've spend most of the day sitting so I dont know how I can be building up a charge

chuckles30

We had to get rubber backed mats in our office as people were getting shocks off a door. The door was located under an airconditioning unit, but since the rubber mats were installed, it seems to have worked. There was something to do with the type of carpet too I think. Not sure if this is any help or not....

starn

No. I getting them off everything, Staplers, railing, switches, I'am the only one affected

Fast_Mover

everytime i use a shopping trolley and touch off it i get electric shots!!! This happen to anybody else?

muckwarrior

Static discharge. Get new shoes.

Fast_Mover

i have plenty of shoes thanks Muckers!

nutgroist

step lightly, don't drag your feet across the floor, touch the filing cabinets, doors and the like with your shoes first. That's the only way i could get around my last office without getting a few volts into me. Or im afraid it's the rubber gloves for you, pal

Saying that, i went to a friend's last year and walked carefully into her wooden-floored kitchen, just touched the metallic hob and immediately collapsed in a heap on the floor. Wasn't live or anything. We're just good conductors. Be proud of it.

(also remember a few brief periods years ago of not being able to kiss the girlfriend cos we'd feel sparks or static or something - not as romantic as you'd think, though)

RandolphEsq

I hate those little shocks, I'm now paranoid of touching metallic things

jamieh

I don't know why...but I always get a small shock from the railing of the stairs in HMV in Cork!!

johnp

Buy some good quality wellingtons

I used to have the same problem in my first job, I ended up walking around without shoes on for a very long time.....

Auslander

Think it's the static build up in your clothes, especially wool. It might be caused by the chair you're sitting in? Try going to work in your Birthday suit, but that might create more problems than it'll solve!!!

**elaine**

I used to get electric shocks from the car door, haven't gotten one in a while though but i'm going to be paranoid about it now after this thread

stag39

had come across this before with one of my clients offices..it's the carpet...synthetic rubbish one at that probably...

Fajitas!

I used to get it from wearing different jumpers...

Canis Lupus

If it's cold and dry like it is over here in London that really doesn't help either. My jumper I'm wearing is "shocking", I touched the metal toaster in the house today and I popped more than the toast.

But get this, my mate in work goes outside for a smoke and put on his wool jacket. When he comes back in he can use the static on his jacket to remotely make the scanner on his desk run through a cycle. It's quite disturbing watching it.

luckat

I used to get shocks from the car door in summer; someone told me that it was dryness that did it, and if you wet your hand before touching the door it won't happen.

Maybe if you put a couple of plants in the office and watered them the atmos wouldn't be so dry.

paconnors

i normally dont get them unless i go to new york, i'm now dreddin goin on 14th march

Sparky

getting shocks or in this case static discharge is caused by many factors, many if these cases are to do with bad earthing and most cases involving static discharge is in offices, cars and supermarkets, many offices have carpet tiles that are synthetic and the friction of ones shoes on the floor can cause static to build up in the body, what doesnt help either is if the area is very warm ie your office isnt humid enough. the usual solver of this is to have a humidifier which will put some moisture in the air and thus acts as the earth.

Same thing with cars alot of people get shocks of cars, then thats because they are generating static and once a metal object comes near it discharges.

Some people often get a shock of fridges in the supermarket, this is also due to static buildup in the person and can be due to the fridge motor not properly earthed either, a simple o ring solved this in a case we had.

Everyone is different, i can sence static shock but then again i dont say wear a lot of nylon for example.

Ruaidhri

It's down to your sock/shoe combination. Cause of them you're not earthing properly.
I think there's a little thingie you can get which goes around your ankle and down the back of your shoe to the ground to help you earth.

stag39

Ruaidhri wrote:

It's down to your sock/shoe combination. Cause of them you're not earthing properly.
I think there's a little thingie you can get which goes around your ankle and down the back of your shoe to the ground to help you earth.

is that like one of those silly thingys hanging off the rear bumpers of some car's...good untill after a mile when its useless!;)

toffeapple

Probabaly the most effect way of stopping this is to stay in bed smoking pot eating wagon wheels and watching Ricki Lake..that office is a death trap no one can be expected to work in those conditions

BrokenArrows

I have a funny story about static shocks.

I used to work in Dunnes Stores. I was stacking the butter on the skelves, you know the ones with the foil around them.

Anyway i had always gotten shocks from stuff around the shop mainly the fridges but had gotten used to them and simply didnt really notice getting shocked.

Well while i was stacking the butter covered in foil a woman asked me to hand her one so i picked one up and have it to her. I was leaning against the fridge at the time.

Once she touched the butter whe gave out this weird noise. Kinda half scream
Ahhhughhhh.......
I nearly burst out laughing. Static had passed though me and built up on the butter.

LOL.:D

As soon as she walked away i broke down laughing.