Workplace Safety, ESD and Environmental Practices
What this domain tests
Workplace Safety, ESD and Environmental Practices tests protection of technician, device and environment: static control, electrical safety, fumes, tools and e-waste.
Core rules
- Wear a grounded ESD wrist strap with a 1 MΩ resistor and work on a grounded mat. Handle boards by edges; keep plastics and foam away from exposed pads.
- Unplug chargers before opening; discharge capacitors; use a current-limited supply. Treat battery terminals as live.
- Solder with fume extraction; wear safety glasses when clipping or prying. Keep flammable solvents away from heat.
- Li-ion batteries are a fire risk: isolate damaged cells, do not puncture, and use the site's battery-fire procedure.
- Segregate e-waste: batteries, boards, screens and plastic go to authorised recyclers, not household bins.
Worked example
Set up a repair bench. Connect the mat to a verified earth point, test the wrist strap, and put on the strap before touching a board. Place a fume extractor beside the soldering iron and a heat-resistant mat under hot-air work. Keep a metal tray for swollen batteries. When a battery swells during repair, power down, place it in the tray away from combustible material, and follow the shop's disposal route. The reasoning: ESD damage may appear later as intermittent faults, and a swollen cell can ignite if punctured.
Traps
Wearing a wrist strap not connected to earth; using compressed air on boards; working on a live charger; putting lithium batteries in ordinary waste; ignoring flux fumes.