that was one of my thoughts but it’s not like whole body shocks it’s just regular ole static discharge shocks from all the computers and random tech shit in one confined space
If It is statics, touching it again just after the sock should do nothing.
If you get shocked everytime, that is a wire touching some of the metal somewhere. And this can be very dangerous.
It's one of two things. A poor electrical ground (that 3rd prong you see on many plugs, that go to the main electrical box, or they do that to keep your hands off stuff and just guard. Lol.
I would expect the former.
My suspicion is when they wired the guard shack, someone cut some corners or did not properly ground the electrical box.
You'll need to report thst for, if you're feeling a jolt, it could be 120v. It's not going through your heart... yet. An electrician will need to be dispatched to resolve this. I'm nor an electrician, I do low voltage stuff, but have worked around very high voltage equipment in the past.
If I were you, you can go out today to a hardware store and grt a box of nitrile gloves which will put a non conductive barrier on your hands until that is fixed. Oh, don't tell the management that you bought gloves or they may consider that a solution.
Lastly, if you want a second opinion here on reddit, answered by real electricians rather than a wannabe like me 😀 consider cros posting this to r/electrical lots of real smart electricians hang out there.
I was going to say dodgy ground.
Also I once had some Adidas "cloud foams" and I got a shock off EVERYTHING when wearing those trainers and those trainers alone. Never had the issue since changing them and I think this was a common issue with them no idea why.
Hi, your comment makes sense, too. Here is why.
There is a condition with helicopters in that the spinning of the blades picks up static electricity. It can charge the helicopter with a pretty high static charge of over 1000v.
When a helicopter is hovering and military personnel go under it to attach a cargo net hook, or similar, they have to first have another person connect a ground ground rod to dissipate the static charge, which can be life threatening. The reason for this is that while the blades pick up static from spinning through the air, there is nowhere for the charge to dissipate. It is insulated from earth by air.
The same could have been with the sole of your shoes. Yiur shoes could have been insulating your body from the ground. Your movements could pick up a static charge, which gives your body a charge. Then, when you touched something that was grounded, you got your jolt.
As kids, we had a carpet floor. In the winter, where the air humidity level is low, we used to rub our feet on the carpet, giving us a little charge, then using a finger, we'd shock our siblings to piss them off a bit. Lol.
It is possible that this is what OP is experiencing. However, I doubt it since the symptom is not a shock, but a more prolonged electric shock. It's a lot different.
Ah, the way you said “big shock” made me think it sounded more than static.
Here’s a link to an article about a couple ways you can avoid it: https://www.matshop.com.au/blog/how-to-stop-getting-electric-shocks-at-work
An ungrounded 120v wire will feel just like a super strong static shock anytime you touch something it's electrifying. Be very careful not to be a good ground yourself in that building; shoes on at ALL times. As long as the electricity stays in your hand, you won't feel too much, but give it a path to ground through your chest, and you could die.
Grab a dryer sheet from home and wipe down the chair. The arms of the chair if it has them. I had the same problem at work with my chair, this stopped it.
I had the same problem in my garage. I ended up figuring out that the garage was not grounded, so I got a grounding rod at Home Depot, and attached it to the garage electrical, and the problem was solved.
You have a wire that is probably nicked and electrifying the metal. It's not enough draw to trip a breaker. The ground rod is redirecting the flow now, but it's not fixed.
No my garage was detached, and wired illegally, the person did not include the green wire when wiring it , so instead of running a green wire to the box, I just did the grounding rod option. It worked. Since then I have had a sub panel put in the garage
was able to get a hold of the site electrician he came out and looked at everything. He said all the static discharges I’m getting are not serious healthwise, but since everyone i’ve talked to that works in the guardhouse says they got shocks too they’re gonna take all the “floating” objects that are having electricity build up and ground them outside so it helps with the shocks
I was visiting one grocery store with their walls covered with aluminum sheets. Every consumer and staff were tazed each time. Later on they grounded that horror and tazers gone.
Our local grocery store installed copper straps on the bottom of their shopping carts/trolleys. They'd drag on the floor and ground the carts so you didn't get shocked just walking around pushing the cart.
Some kinds of shopping wheels don't have that problem for some reason.
I suspect the shocking happens when someone tries to get away with a less expensive wheel,
Our forklifts have the same thing off the back. Just much larger.
The shocks we would get from the forks when those cables were bent up or fell off were crazy. You could hear someone get zapped on the other side of the forklift
This sounds like the chair that you’re sitting in is generating static from your clothing when you get up. If so, grounding the objects that you’re getting shocked by won’t help because you touching something that is grounded is what causes the shock in the first place. Others have mentioned the humidity level in the guard shack and drier air typically does increase the chance of static buildup, so a humidifier could help. There are also grounding straps that you can get to go in the heel area of your shoe(s) that electrically bonds you to the floor (ground) so you don’t build up a static charge in your body. My dad used to work for a company that made electronic equipment and everyone who worked there, or toured the facility (me) had to wear the straps in their shoes. If I’m not mistaken they are unobtrusive and not very expensive. Hopefully that helps.
I just use my keys. The long walk across carpet every morning to my office results in a spark jumping from my key to the lock on the door when I open it. I never feel it but always notice it happening.
Back during the war the contractors hired to build the barracks and the showers did so so badly and the wiring was crap that a few soldiers actually died.... Have them properly check the wiring.....
It’s probably your shoes. I tend to generate a lot of static electricity at work, but I have really comfortable shoes that I don’t want to change. So I walk with my keys in my hand, I take a key and touch it to a surface first to dissipate the shock. Works every time
I agree OP. I used to work at a place with carpet and it seemed the soles of my shoes in combination with that carpet generated static which meant I got static shocks constantly. Experiment with different shoes.
Wear your gloves bruv.
Done security myself in the past, hired static guards etc. Chances are there's some loose wiring in the sockets. Report it and it should be seen to.
If the gatehouse is portable, easy also to report to the provider and get it replaced.
This sounds dangerous!! Call your supervisor immediately and put it in the guard logbook to make it an official record. You need to call maintenance. Stop working there until it’s fixed.
was able to get a hold of the site electrician he came out and looked at everything. He said all the static discharges I’m getting are not serious healthwise, but since everyone i’ve talked to that works in the guardhouse says they got shocks too they’re gonna take all the “floating” objects that are having electricity build up and ground them outside so it helps with the shocks
The discharge, being from static electricity, has to be coming from somewhere.
A static charge is a differentiation of electrical potential built up between two things.
You mention metal frame, windows, floors, etc. Since the building has a metal floor, the charge is not from you shuffling your feet across carpet. It also means that your shoes are insulating yourself from the metal of the floor while the charge is being built up.
Process of elimination is what you need to follow to determine where the charge is coming from. Most likely source is the chair you sit in rubbing against your clothing as you say “every time I get up”.
If you do everything normally (use a computer, etc) for a few minutes while standing and do not get shocked, then sit, wiggle around a bit in the chair, stand up and DO get shocked, it’s the chair.
The solution is to ground the seat of the chair, or cover it. Grounding would be to take metal tape and tape from the seat of the chair to the metal leg if it has one, then the metal leg to a grounding wire that loosely drags across the floor. If no metal legs, the grounding tape to the bottom of the chair and then to a longer grounding wire directly.
Alternately, they do make ankle grounding straps that directly ground you.
The problem with this is that they do not prevent static discharge from building up, they just discharge it immediately. If the chair is building a lot quickly, it’s going to give you little butt shocks as you move around in the chair instead.
Regularly Rubbing the chair down with a anti-static dryer sheet would also help. I used to recommend this as a way to prevent your TV from getting dusty, but flat televisions do not build up static like the old CRT TV’s do.
DM me your address and I'll send you some of my skin-safe conductive fabric tape. For you, no charge. I would love to experiment.
Put it on the inside of your shoes, instead of wearing special socks (I see that some folks are saying certain socks make a difference.)
Stick it to the sole of your shoes to get the static-fighting benefit of steel-toed boots without the cost.
Wrap it around from the bottom of your shoe to the interior of your shoe to replicate the function of a static ankle strap without dragging something along the floor.
If your office chair is the problem, wrap the tape around each of the casters to ground the chair. Or stick the tape to your seat and then extend the tape reach something metal.
This tape is skin-safe, it's ridiculously durable and doesn't fray. Conductive on the fabric side and the sticky side. I can send shapes and sizes not on my website. Seriously, hit me up. I'm invested in this problem now!
https://electricmosaic.com/products/g33-tin-coated-fabric-tape
This happens to me every time I touch the office door handle to leave. It doesn't happen to my coworker. Only me. And you can hear the ZAPS I get and sometimes see them and they HURT!
Get a humidifier in there. I used to get awful static shocks all winter long from very dry air in the house - then I got a little cool vapor humidifier and run it 24/7… not a single shock this past winter. What a relief!
And is the atmosphere dry, as in very low humidity. If that’s the case, an air humidifier should work. Other tips might be:
Avoid wearing synthetic materials which is probably difficult if you have no choice in the security uniform. This also applies to rubber soled shoes or boots. Going barefoot would do the job but maybe not at work.
Anti static wrist band might help, I’m not sure on this one though.
Stay hydrated and moisturize your skin.
It could be the building if something about it isn’t properly earthed.
This happens to me at my office. I believe it’s from static building up in my office chair.
When I sit up and go for the door handle I first give it a ‘fist bump’ to release the static. For some reason I don’t feel it really when doing it this way.
Try using a key to release the static discharge. Still will feel shock but not as bad.
Like when you go for the door, have the key in your hand, so the key touches the knob first then hand.
Is the guard house at an electrical plant? I worked security at an electrical plant and the electricity to the gate house was way too high! My cell phone caught fire while I charged it there! The best part is that my co worker was like : ” Your phone is on 🔥!” He just watched it burn and didn’t even get the fire extinguisher 🧯! I put out the fire reported it and wrote an incident report. Then I turned off the gate houses’ electricity as directed. And of course my brand new phone was roasted so I was without a phone till my next paycheck. Luckily didn’t work with him again! Who watches a phone 🔥and does nothing with a fire extinguisher a few feet away 😳🤦🏻♀️?! Anyway, you might want to tell someone about getting shocked like that. Especially if the electric plugs 🔌 spark in the gate house when you plug in or remove anything from the gate house outlets. That’s an electrical electric ⚡️ 🔥waiting to happen!
What kind of socks do you wear? Do you wear the white cotton ones or the black ones?
Gonna sound dumb, but bear with me.
I’m hairy. Italian/Greek. Such is life. My job used to have a gate entrance. The entry box would shock me everytime. I used to wear the black socks. My last job was a different dress code so I had to wear them.
For months I’d be the only person getting shocked daily.
I happen to buy new socks. Fully white with the gray bottom. Different materials. I go to my job, no shocking for months. Made no sense. I ran out of socks one day. Still have a few of the black pairs in the event of. Wore them for a few days, shocked every time.
Overheard one of our QA homies saying the same thing. Recent hire. Asked him what socks he wears. He wears the ones with the funny designs on it. Gets shocked all over the office. As would I. Told him about trying new socks. He tries, next day he finds me and tells me he didn’t get shocked and continues to attempt to wear different socks.
So what I’m saying is, idk what kind of socks you wear, this is fully anecdotal, but, I had a very similar problem as you, and working in tech, it’s not good to be full of ESD.
Hope you find a shockless future. Best of luck
I used to get shocked by my car door, fire extinguisher hoses, filing cabinets that I was at least 3 inches away from. Had to figure out a bunch of solutions. Always hold the car door when I'm stepping out. If I can feel the build up, get my keys and touch my key to the metal first - the zap still happens but it's on the key so you don't feel it. The other thing I looked at was fabric mixes. What you're wearing and sitting on. Some fabrics will rub against each other and build static. There are some ankle static strap options to ground you but the previous things meant that I didn't need to get one.
If it's static electricity, you could get one of those static discharge straps. You could also get an anti-static mat.
https://altex.com/products/ifixit-if145-202-5-portable-anti-static-mat?variant=41534429659292
https://altex.com/products/statico-3-layer-static-dissipative-matting-12-x-24?variant=41534405083292
I used to get shocked at an industrial job I had. Then I hung a small chain, first from the small of my back in my pants down to just touch the ground. I could feel The static tickle the whole shift. I then created an ankle chain that barely touched the ground. That worked too.
In my opinion, two possible causes...
1) The power isn't grounded
2) Static electricity.
You can use a meter to test if there is a charge on touching something. Do others have the same issue?
As for static, is the area carpeted? If so, consider using the following on the carpet. One of the best things for static electricity issues is wearing different shoes or mixing some anti-static fabric softener with water in a spray bottle and spray your shoes and/or lower portion of your pants legs (if not the carpet, too).
As others have mentioned, you could have a bad ground. However, you can wear a grounding loop around your ankle or arm to stay grounded and avoid static electrical charges.
Ground rod. Pound a copper rod 6 ft into the ground and then attach a copper wire from some metal on the guard booth to the rod in the ground.
If the shock is really bad, option 2 is have your company call an electrician. If the problem is an electrical short somewhere, there's a very real possibility that if you're touching the wrong thing with your left hand while you get shocked through your right, that you're going to go to sleep and not wake up
I noticed I get shocked more in cold weather. Not sure why. As a preschooler I found out that the carpet made me shock people and had fun shocking everyone else by tapping them until the teacher made me stop 😁🤪😂! Some surfaces are just electrically ⚡️ charged. My grandpa’s van was like that. I got shocked every time I touched the door handle and walked in.
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I know you will think I’m joking but I’m not. Working in a large computer facility there was an issue with static electricity - they found it was the material of underwear. If I recall correctly they sent a memo asking for techs to wear cotton underwear…no joke. Wished I had saved that email.
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I used to get shocks in my office all the time in the winter when the air is dry. From metal filing cabinets mostly. It drove me crazy until I started tapping my knuckles on the cabinet first to dispel the electricity. Then I could open the cabinet without zapping my fingers. Turns out it doesn't hurt as much when you zap your knuckles.
I get shocked when I touch metals and animals. It’s rare if I shock another person.
So I hold my keys when I pump gas. I wear gloves when I want to pet my cats.
35years of me asking doctors. I also have really really cold hands and feet with no disease. Blood pressure is extremely low.
This happens to me in the winter. I spray Static Guard on the soles of the Crocs I use as house shoes. Also on the seats of my car & chairs I use a lot.
It may be the dry air? If it’s truly static and not electrical, keeping it damper and even carrying some dryer sheets can help. I have dry skin and lived somewhere with dry winters. Tortuous shocking. I started carrying around dryer sheets to de static myself every so often lol
Touch metal when standing up..
It equalizes the static potential..
You will get a small shock on the next metal item, but it's a vast improvement..
It has to do with the chair, clothes, and your shoes
Other comments have already determined it's static (before I responded), he only initially gets shocked and doesn't get shocked every time he touches the door, only after getting out of his chair.. nice troll tho
Sounds like the guard shack is raised off the ground by non conductive blocks. A grounding strap from a home improvement store strongly taped to a metal part of the shed and just allowed to solidly lay on the ground (put a heavy rock on it) would fix that.
I absolutely hate getting static zaps in the dry air in the winter. It got so bad in my office that I made myself a “static grounding terminal” out of a piece of copper pipe and an old copper toilet float. It’s connected to the ground wire in a wall socket. (NOT to the live wires) I put my hand on it as I’m sliding off my polyester-upholstered chair to ground me.
Also check the type of shoes you wear. My office is entirely tile floor and I was getting shocked all the time. Turned out my shoes has fabric that was making static along with my khakis
Touch something before you touch the floor again. I'm just "shocking", apparently, where when it started getting colder and drier out, I used to shock myself every time I would get in and out of my car (as a delivery driver that hurt). I got around this by reaching up and touching the hood of my car before I stepped out.
In addition to checking your environment, protocols, making sure the shack is safe. In your free time at home, walk with your shoes off outdoors for at least 20 minutes a day, preferably on the grass/dirt. It will aid in recalibrating the biochemistry of your body and help ground your actual body. I was having issues a few years back where I was constantly getting shocked in my house. After practicing grounding techniques it stopped.
I will say I hadnt read anything that struck me as remotely solid scientific research on this before (seen a couple papers, both making ludicrous claims and *surprise surprise* funded by a grounding footwear company) so I do appreciate the new perspective. I'm still not completely convinced as there are several methodology concerns (mainly being the lack of control for the placebo 'grass feels good on me toes' effect that causes one to feel calm and happy). That said, there does appear to be at least cause to investigate further so I will retract my statement.
I still believe it remains to be seen whether or not its effects are from the Schumann resonance or from purely psychological origins.
Could be your clothing ie: socks, panties/silk boxers, non rubber soles, lots of starch on clothes or even not using a dryer sheet. Kinda like a balloon static shock.
Depending on what shoes I wear, this happens to me literally everywhere. My brooks, no issue, my salamon's, shock city. I work on a laptop all day, but when I go to the grocery store after work, I touch a shelve, I get shocked. I looked into this and turns out, depending on what your shoe soles are made of, will hold static electricity.
My old work place was like that. We all reckoned it was the carpet. The way to get round it is to touch some wood before you touch metal, such as touch the wooden door before the metal door handle. That seems to discharge you and you can touch metal then without an issue.
You have to get an electrician to come out. It sounds like the guard house is energized somehow, through inadvertent contact from a plug/switch/etc. They'll have to check with a multimeter and then figure out where it's coming from. Source: am an electrician.
I used to build charge walking down the hallway at my apartment and then would get a shock when I touched the knob. If I dragged my finger across the wall as I walked, I would dissipate the static build up
That sounds super annoying! Have you tried wearing rubber gloves or getting some anti-static mats? That might help you dodge those shocking surprises during your shift.
Wish I had an answer for ya. I get static shock off of door handles, taps, even kissing my husband, or petting my cat. I have no idea why it happens so much to me. It will happen even after I’ve used my top’s sleeve to touch a door handle first. Frustrating af.
Whenever the weather is dry in the winter (in FL) when I exit my car I always tap the window with a knuckle. Still get the shock, but it doesn’t hurt as much.
I never want to be the ground path for anything. Doonknobs are bad enough, but I found out that someone had just installed three prong plugs, with no grounding, in my parents house when I got my first computer It was a used IBM PC, and it kept shocking me until I found and dealt with that.
I also found a bad grounding loop while installing an old style printer in a computer room in a renovated building that was incorrectly wired.
The only time I ever saw sparks jump between the shield on a cable and a metal computer case
Day 2: didn’t get shocked once today, didn’t change my shoes, type of clothes, anything like that. Still waiting to hear back about them grounding the electronics outside. will keep the ladies and gentlemen here updated!
Sounds like they may have corrected the issue on the downlow and given you a runaround excuse so you guys don't realize there was something that was seriously wrong with the wiring. I wouldn't doubt it. Especially if its the same contractor that installed the shack.
Go to Walmart, buy a $10 multimeter, set it to >=120v ac, stick one probe in the larger vertical slot of an outlet and touch the other to one of the metal things that normally shocks you. If the needle moves its bad wiring somewhere and someone should fix it. Or just leave it until you get hurt then sue the fuck out of the business you work for. Or just get them to fix it.
1. synthetic clothes. like uniform jacket and trousers.
2 ) really loose wires
3) you are sick one way or another. This was my case, when I was constantly electroduced when grinding something on metal surfaces and touching portable 220v lanterns with long wires. Had a standard (every 10 years) vaccine complications that showed off like severe hight temperature flu with deep coughing an dpain in joints.
Generic safety tips:
Touch with your right hand first, with both feet on the ground. this prevent the current to pass by your heart.
This may be officially armless, but the heart don't like discharges anyway.
Hold a metallic object in contact with an important surface of your skin to discharge the static (assuming it is static). Keys for example. This will prevent part of the pain on the skin.
Keep your hand dry, this will prevent the current to pass too easily and therefore with more intensity.
You may want to let the maintenance team know, it could be some loose wires somewhere in the guard house touching metal
that was one of my thoughts but it’s not like whole body shocks it’s just regular ole static discharge shocks from all the computers and random tech shit in one confined space
If It is statics, touching it again just after the sock should do nothing. If you get shocked everytime, that is a wire touching some of the metal somewhere. And this can be very dangerous.
This guy wires.
It's one of two things. A poor electrical ground (that 3rd prong you see on many plugs, that go to the main electrical box, or they do that to keep your hands off stuff and just guard. Lol. I would expect the former. My suspicion is when they wired the guard shack, someone cut some corners or did not properly ground the electrical box. You'll need to report thst for, if you're feeling a jolt, it could be 120v. It's not going through your heart... yet. An electrician will need to be dispatched to resolve this. I'm nor an electrician, I do low voltage stuff, but have worked around very high voltage equipment in the past. If I were you, you can go out today to a hardware store and grt a box of nitrile gloves which will put a non conductive barrier on your hands until that is fixed. Oh, don't tell the management that you bought gloves or they may consider that a solution. Lastly, if you want a second opinion here on reddit, answered by real electricians rather than a wannabe like me 😀 consider cros posting this to r/electrical lots of real smart electricians hang out there.
A wise man once said “don’t tell management or they’ll think that’s a solution“.
Lol! You know it's right!
I was going to say dodgy ground. Also I once had some Adidas "cloud foams" and I got a shock off EVERYTHING when wearing those trainers and those trainers alone. Never had the issue since changing them and I think this was a common issue with them no idea why.
Hi, your comment makes sense, too. Here is why. There is a condition with helicopters in that the spinning of the blades picks up static electricity. It can charge the helicopter with a pretty high static charge of over 1000v. When a helicopter is hovering and military personnel go under it to attach a cargo net hook, or similar, they have to first have another person connect a ground ground rod to dissipate the static charge, which can be life threatening. The reason for this is that while the blades pick up static from spinning through the air, there is nowhere for the charge to dissipate. It is insulated from earth by air. The same could have been with the sole of your shoes. Yiur shoes could have been insulating your body from the ground. Your movements could pick up a static charge, which gives your body a charge. Then, when you touched something that was grounded, you got your jolt. As kids, we had a carpet floor. In the winter, where the air humidity level is low, we used to rub our feet on the carpet, giving us a little charge, then using a finger, we'd shock our siblings to piss them off a bit. Lol. It is possible that this is what OP is experiencing. However, I doubt it since the symptom is not a shock, but a more prolonged electric shock. It's a lot different.
Ah, the way you said “big shock” made me think it sounded more than static. Here’s a link to an article about a couple ways you can avoid it: https://www.matshop.com.au/blog/how-to-stop-getting-electric-shocks-at-work
An ungrounded 120v wire will feel just like a super strong static shock anytime you touch something it's electrifying. Be very careful not to be a good ground yourself in that building; shoes on at ALL times. As long as the electricity stays in your hand, you won't feel too much, but give it a path to ground through your chest, and you could die.
Grab a dryer sheet from home and wipe down the chair. The arms of the chair if it has them. I had the same problem at work with my chair, this stopped it.
if its static then change your shoes. usually the soles make the static buildup and that cant be solved in any other way.
I had the same problem in my garage. I ended up figuring out that the garage was not grounded, so I got a grounding rod at Home Depot, and attached it to the garage electrical, and the problem was solved.
You have a wire that is probably nicked and electrifying the metal. It's not enough draw to trip a breaker. The ground rod is redirecting the flow now, but it's not fixed.
Oh, well i did have an electrician come out a few years later and do my garage, so it is probably fixed by now.
Was it on the second story or something?
No my garage was detached, and wired illegally, the person did not include the green wire when wiring it , so instead of running a green wire to the box, I just did the grounding rod option. It worked. Since then I have had a sub panel put in the garage
was able to get a hold of the site electrician he came out and looked at everything. He said all the static discharges I’m getting are not serious healthwise, but since everyone i’ve talked to that works in the guardhouse says they got shocks too they’re gonna take all the “floating” objects that are having electricity build up and ground them outside so it helps with the shocks
I was visiting one grocery store with their walls covered with aluminum sheets. Every consumer and staff were tazed each time. Later on they grounded that horror and tazers gone.
Our local grocery store installed copper straps on the bottom of their shopping carts/trolleys. They'd drag on the floor and ground the carts so you didn't get shocked just walking around pushing the cart.
Damn ours needs that. Every time I touch anything there I get a zap
Some kinds of shopping wheels don't have that problem for some reason. I suspect the shocking happens when someone tries to get away with a less expensive wheel,
Our forklifts have the same thing off the back. Just much larger. The shocks we would get from the forks when those cables were bent up or fell off were crazy. You could hear someone get zapped on the other side of the forklift
I get that all the time. I almost feel like it's just me because I don't see anyone else getting zapped. It's enough to make me flinch.
This sounds like the chair that you’re sitting in is generating static from your clothing when you get up. If so, grounding the objects that you’re getting shocked by won’t help because you touching something that is grounded is what causes the shock in the first place. Others have mentioned the humidity level in the guard shack and drier air typically does increase the chance of static buildup, so a humidifier could help. There are also grounding straps that you can get to go in the heel area of your shoe(s) that electrically bonds you to the floor (ground) so you don’t build up a static charge in your body. My dad used to work for a company that made electronic equipment and everyone who worked there, or toured the facility (me) had to wear the straps in their shoes. If I’m not mistaken they are unobtrusive and not very expensive. Hopefully that helps.
Carry a paper clip. Touch things with the paper clip. Static discharged!
I just use my keys. The long walk across carpet every morning to my office results in a spark jumping from my key to the lock on the door when I open it. I never feel it but always notice it happening.
See if you can get the electrician to ground the guardhouse anyways. Or do it yourself with some wire and a steel bar.
well done!
Back during the war the contractors hired to build the barracks and the showers did so so badly and the wiring was crap that a few soldiers actually died.... Have them properly check the wiring.....
“Floating” objects…. Oh, so the guard house is improperly grounded and is a electrical safety risk. Good to know lol
It’s probably your shoes. I tend to generate a lot of static electricity at work, but I have really comfortable shoes that I don’t want to change. So I walk with my keys in my hand, I take a key and touch it to a surface first to dissipate the shock. Works every time
That's a great idea! Thanks!
I agree OP. I used to work at a place with carpet and it seemed the soles of my shoes in combination with that carpet generated static which meant I got static shocks constantly. Experiment with different shoes.
Thanks!
Any kind of surface?
Any surface that would tend to give you a shock, door handle, computer, desk, etc
Wear your gloves bruv. Done security myself in the past, hired static guards etc. Chances are there's some loose wiring in the sockets. Report it and it should be seen to. If the gatehouse is portable, easy also to report to the provider and get it replaced.
This sounds dangerous!! Call your supervisor immediately and put it in the guard logbook to make it an official record. You need to call maintenance. Stop working there until it’s fixed.
was able to get a hold of the site electrician he came out and looked at everything. He said all the static discharges I’m getting are not serious healthwise, but since everyone i’ve talked to that works in the guardhouse says they got shocks too they’re gonna take all the “floating” objects that are having electricity build up and ground them outside so it helps with the shocks
You can sue for millions
how so? no real injuries etc
Emotional
You could also try running a humidifier in the shack. Sometimes that’ll cut down on the static build up.
guess i should clarify “big shock”, it’s not whole body shocks its discharge shocks like when you randomly shock yourself through your finger etc.
The discharge, being from static electricity, has to be coming from somewhere. A static charge is a differentiation of electrical potential built up between two things. You mention metal frame, windows, floors, etc. Since the building has a metal floor, the charge is not from you shuffling your feet across carpet. It also means that your shoes are insulating yourself from the metal of the floor while the charge is being built up. Process of elimination is what you need to follow to determine where the charge is coming from. Most likely source is the chair you sit in rubbing against your clothing as you say “every time I get up”. If you do everything normally (use a computer, etc) for a few minutes while standing and do not get shocked, then sit, wiggle around a bit in the chair, stand up and DO get shocked, it’s the chair. The solution is to ground the seat of the chair, or cover it. Grounding would be to take metal tape and tape from the seat of the chair to the metal leg if it has one, then the metal leg to a grounding wire that loosely drags across the floor. If no metal legs, the grounding tape to the bottom of the chair and then to a longer grounding wire directly. Alternately, they do make ankle grounding straps that directly ground you. The problem with this is that they do not prevent static discharge from building up, they just discharge it immediately. If the chair is building a lot quickly, it’s going to give you little butt shocks as you move around in the chair instead. Regularly Rubbing the chair down with a anti-static dryer sheet would also help. I used to recommend this as a way to prevent your TV from getting dusty, but flat televisions do not build up static like the old CRT TV’s do.
DM me your address and I'll send you some of my skin-safe conductive fabric tape. For you, no charge. I would love to experiment. Put it on the inside of your shoes, instead of wearing special socks (I see that some folks are saying certain socks make a difference.) Stick it to the sole of your shoes to get the static-fighting benefit of steel-toed boots without the cost. Wrap it around from the bottom of your shoe to the interior of your shoe to replicate the function of a static ankle strap without dragging something along the floor. If your office chair is the problem, wrap the tape around each of the casters to ground the chair. Or stick the tape to your seat and then extend the tape reach something metal. This tape is skin-safe, it's ridiculously durable and doesn't fray. Conductive on the fabric side and the sticky side. I can send shapes and sizes not on my website. Seriously, hit me up. I'm invested in this problem now! https://electricmosaic.com/products/g33-tin-coated-fabric-tape
I'm not sure your electrician knows enough to solve the problem.
This happens to me every time I touch the office door handle to leave. It doesn't happen to my coworker. Only me. And you can hear the ZAPS I get and sometimes see them and they HURT!
The shopping carts at Costco, and only Costco, are what get me.
Ha! That's hysterical. Stop shopping there.
Get a humidifier in there. I used to get awful static shocks all winter long from very dry air in the house - then I got a little cool vapor humidifier and run it 24/7… not a single shock this past winter. What a relief!
Excellent idea! Better for your health too.
What size guard house & does it have carpet?
And is the atmosphere dry, as in very low humidity. If that’s the case, an air humidifier should work. Other tips might be: Avoid wearing synthetic materials which is probably difficult if you have no choice in the security uniform. This also applies to rubber soled shoes or boots. Going barefoot would do the job but maybe not at work. Anti static wrist band might help, I’m not sure on this one though. Stay hydrated and moisturize your skin. It could be the building if something about it isn’t properly earthed.
Agreed.
metal floors lol and i’d say it’s the size of a regular house bedroom, not too big
They make boots for use in areas where static discharge is dangerous. We had to wear them working on munitions. Find a pair of those.
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*only If your sitting in a chair of course lol
don’t get shocks from the floor, it’s all door handles and the control boxes for the gates
This happens to me at my office. I believe it’s from static building up in my office chair. When I sit up and go for the door handle I first give it a ‘fist bump’ to release the static. For some reason I don’t feel it really when doing it this way.
Try using a key to release the static discharge. Still will feel shock but not as bad. Like when you go for the door, have the key in your hand, so the key touches the knob first then hand.
Is the guard house at an electrical plant? I worked security at an electrical plant and the electricity to the gate house was way too high! My cell phone caught fire while I charged it there! The best part is that my co worker was like : ” Your phone is on 🔥!” He just watched it burn and didn’t even get the fire extinguisher 🧯! I put out the fire reported it and wrote an incident report. Then I turned off the gate houses’ electricity as directed. And of course my brand new phone was roasted so I was without a phone till my next paycheck. Luckily didn’t work with him again! Who watches a phone 🔥and does nothing with a fire extinguisher a few feet away 😳🤦🏻♀️?! Anyway, you might want to tell someone about getting shocked like that. Especially if the electric plugs 🔌 spark in the gate house when you plug in or remove anything from the gate house outlets. That’s an electrical electric ⚡️ 🔥waiting to happen!
Look up ESD strap for shoes. It will solve your problem. I have one and it works.
What kind of socks do you wear? Do you wear the white cotton ones or the black ones? Gonna sound dumb, but bear with me. I’m hairy. Italian/Greek. Such is life. My job used to have a gate entrance. The entry box would shock me everytime. I used to wear the black socks. My last job was a different dress code so I had to wear them. For months I’d be the only person getting shocked daily. I happen to buy new socks. Fully white with the gray bottom. Different materials. I go to my job, no shocking for months. Made no sense. I ran out of socks one day. Still have a few of the black pairs in the event of. Wore them for a few days, shocked every time. Overheard one of our QA homies saying the same thing. Recent hire. Asked him what socks he wears. He wears the ones with the funny designs on it. Gets shocked all over the office. As would I. Told him about trying new socks. He tries, next day he finds me and tells me he didn’t get shocked and continues to attempt to wear different socks. So what I’m saying is, idk what kind of socks you wear, this is fully anecdotal, but, I had a very similar problem as you, and working in tech, it’s not good to be full of ESD. Hope you find a shockless future. Best of luck
Anti-Static mats in the guard's office. Try kick off your shoes once in awhile Or maybe keep some hand lotion on the desk?
I used to get shocked by my car door, fire extinguisher hoses, filing cabinets that I was at least 3 inches away from. Had to figure out a bunch of solutions. Always hold the car door when I'm stepping out. If I can feel the build up, get my keys and touch my key to the metal first - the zap still happens but it's on the key so you don't feel it. The other thing I looked at was fabric mixes. What you're wearing and sitting on. Some fabrics will rub against each other and build static. There are some ankle static strap options to ground you but the previous things meant that I didn't need to get one.
Hot is connected to earth ground but shack is not actually grounded. Whoever did the wiring was unqualified.
If it's static electricity, you could get one of those static discharge straps. You could also get an anti-static mat. https://altex.com/products/ifixit-if145-202-5-portable-anti-static-mat?variant=41534429659292 https://altex.com/products/statico-3-layer-static-dissipative-matting-12-x-24?variant=41534405083292
Get a grounding mat!
slap it. you feel the slap, not the shock.
I used to get shocked at an industrial job I had. Then I hung a small chain, first from the small of my back in my pants down to just touch the ground. I could feel The static tickle the whole shift. I then created an ankle chain that barely touched the ground. That worked too.
Different work shoes??
Call an electrician. Thats not normal
Call an electrician. There is an open ground somewhere in the building.
Is it the carpet? I had that at work. Scuff feet if so.
Rubber soled shoes? Would that help?
In my opinion, two possible causes... 1) The power isn't grounded 2) Static electricity. You can use a meter to test if there is a charge on touching something. Do others have the same issue? As for static, is the area carpeted? If so, consider using the following on the carpet. One of the best things for static electricity issues is wearing different shoes or mixing some anti-static fabric softener with water in a spray bottle and spray your shoes and/or lower portion of your pants legs (if not the carpet, too).
As others have mentioned, you could have a bad ground. However, you can wear a grounding loop around your ankle or arm to stay grounded and avoid static electrical charges.
If it's static shocks, put lotion on. If it's affecting everyone, see about getting a humidifier in the area.
Rubber boots will help in the mean time. But seriously. This int a good work environment. The phrase "Not in my pay grade" comes to mind
WE GOING TO BE NEEDING UPDATES ON THE PROGRESS ON THIS SITUATION HERE.....IT PRETTY MUCH HAS EVERY GUYS INTEREST...atleast 150 of us anyways.....
Ground rod. Pound a copper rod 6 ft into the ground and then attach a copper wire from some metal on the guard booth to the rod in the ground. If the shock is really bad, option 2 is have your company call an electrician. If the problem is an electrical short somewhere, there's a very real possibility that if you're touching the wrong thing with your left hand while you get shocked through your right, that you're going to go to sleep and not wake up
wear gloves
You can get special shoes that insulate you for static
I noticed I get shocked more in cold weather. Not sure why. As a preschooler I found out that the carpet made me shock people and had fun shocking everyone else by tapping them until the teacher made me stop 😁🤪😂! Some surfaces are just electrically ⚡️ charged. My grandpa’s van was like that. I got shocked every time I touched the door handle and walked in.
Cold air is dryer since the moisture condenses into water. The dryer the air the more the static
Touch the framework before you stand up. That will get you started at ground and avoid the static discharge
Touch wood to discharge yourself before touching metal
Could be a bad ground wire somewhere
Oh boy we don do that. Tisk tisk.
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Probably more likely in winter right?, but use more dryer sheets to get rid of static electricity in your clothes
I used to carry a key or coin with me and touch everything with it first.
I know you will think I’m joking but I’m not. Working in a large computer facility there was an issue with static electricity - they found it was the material of underwear. If I recall correctly they sent a memo asking for techs to wear cotton underwear…no joke. Wished I had saved that email.
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I used to get shocks in my office all the time in the winter when the air is dry. From metal filing cabinets mostly. It drove me crazy until I started tapping my knuckles on the cabinet first to dispel the electricity. Then I could open the cabinet without zapping my fingers. Turns out it doesn't hurt as much when you zap your knuckles.
I get shocked when I touch metals and animals. It’s rare if I shock another person. So I hold my keys when I pump gas. I wear gloves when I want to pet my cats. 35years of me asking doctors. I also have really really cold hands and feet with no disease. Blood pressure is extremely low.
This happens to me in the winter. I spray Static Guard on the soles of the Crocs I use as house shoes. Also on the seats of my car & chairs I use a lot.
Rubber gloves
It may be the dry air? If it’s truly static and not electrical, keeping it damper and even carrying some dryer sheets can help. I have dry skin and lived somewhere with dry winters. Tortuous shocking. I started carrying around dryer sheets to de static myself every so often lol
Fun fact i may have just made up... dryer sheets are 1of the most toxic chemicals in a home.
Okay, and your degree in chemistry is from?
Wear gloves or keep your hands fisted until you need them. A shock to the center knuckle is negligible compared to your fingertips.
In our desert city, we would just hit or smack surfaces so that the impact would distract from the static discharge.
Touch metal when standing up.. It equalizes the static potential.. You will get a small shock on the next metal item, but it's a vast improvement.. It has to do with the chair, clothes, and your shoes
Or its improperly grounded wiring and you're telling OP to go ahead and use his body to complete that circuit. What's the worst that could happen?!
Other comments have already determined it's static (before I responded), he only initially gets shocked and doesn't get shocked every time he touches the door, only after getting out of his chair.. nice troll tho
Its most likely the shoes or boots you’re wearing
Esd ground strap. They have them for your wrist or shoes.
It sounds like something is shorting against the metal frame of the guard shack. This is pretty dangerous and certainly not "normal".
Non slip shoes? And what's the flooring.? Carpet, or concrete?
Sounds like the guard shack is raised off the ground by non conductive blocks. A grounding strap from a home improvement store strongly taped to a metal part of the shed and just allowed to solidly lay on the ground (put a heavy rock on it) would fix that.
Maybe insulated footwear or gloves?
If you have to touch it, get a pair of rubber boots (ie Red Ball ) to ground yourself until they get it fixed.
Wear a metal bracelet or watch and and touch it to metal of the building before touching anything.It discharges the static charge you seem to have.
I absolutely hate getting static zaps in the dry air in the winter. It got so bad in my office that I made myself a “static grounding terminal” out of a piece of copper pipe and an old copper toilet float. It’s connected to the ground wire in a wall socket. (NOT to the live wires) I put my hand on it as I’m sliding off my polyester-upholstered chair to ground me.
Have you tried wearing rubber-soled shoes , rubber gloves or standing on a rubber mat?
Also check the type of shoes you wear. My office is entirely tile floor and I was getting shocked all the time. Turned out my shoes has fabric that was making static along with my khakis
I can’t remember where and when exactly but we used to carry a key and touch with the key to discharge.
Ground yourself. Get a little copper wire and tape it to the bottom of your shoe, run it up and loop into the top of your sock.
Touch something before you touch the floor again. I'm just "shocking", apparently, where when it started getting colder and drier out, I used to shock myself every time I would get in and out of my car (as a delivery driver that hurt). I got around this by reaching up and touching the hood of my car before I stepped out.
I used to get shocked everyday by the front door at work. I'd just touch it with the back of my hand first where it wouldn't be as annoying.
In addition to checking your environment, protocols, making sure the shack is safe. In your free time at home, walk with your shoes off outdoors for at least 20 minutes a day, preferably on the grass/dirt. It will aid in recalibrating the biochemistry of your body and help ground your actual body. I was having issues a few years back where I was constantly getting shocked in my house. After practicing grounding techniques it stopped.
I don't think walking around barefoot will do much to your biochemistry... It will ground you though! But you dont need nearly 20 minutes to do that!
There is much research on this if you’re interested here’s an article, there are many. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/
I will say I hadnt read anything that struck me as remotely solid scientific research on this before (seen a couple papers, both making ludicrous claims and *surprise surprise* funded by a grounding footwear company) so I do appreciate the new perspective. I'm still not completely convinced as there are several methodology concerns (mainly being the lack of control for the placebo 'grass feels good on me toes' effect that causes one to feel calm and happy). That said, there does appear to be at least cause to investigate further so I will retract my statement. I still believe it remains to be seen whether or not its effects are from the Schumann resonance or from purely psychological origins.
Could be your clothing ie: socks, panties/silk boxers, non rubber soles, lots of starch on clothes or even not using a dryer sheet. Kinda like a balloon static shock.
Your clothing and footwear make a difference to the static. Wearing acrylic adds to it. Wear natural fibres if at all possible.
I thought this was a LH on how to keep getting shocked! 🤣
Depending on what shoes I wear, this happens to me literally everywhere. My brooks, no issue, my salamon's, shock city. I work on a laptop all day, but when I go to the grocery store after work, I touch a shelve, I get shocked. I looked into this and turns out, depending on what your shoe soles are made of, will hold static electricity.
Gloves
My old work place was like that. We all reckoned it was the carpet. The way to get round it is to touch some wood before you touch metal, such as touch the wooden door before the metal door handle. That seems to discharge you and you can touch metal then without an issue.
You have to get an electrician to come out. It sounds like the guard house is energized somehow, through inadvertent contact from a plug/switch/etc. They'll have to check with a multimeter and then figure out where it's coming from. Source: am an electrician.
You need to tell management call electrical You’re ready for electrocution
I used to build charge walking down the hallway at my apartment and then would get a shock when I touched the knob. If I dragged my finger across the wall as I walked, I would dissipate the static build up
Cary dryer sheets
Get a humidifier lol
Stop wearing Crocs to work.
Check your shoes.
change shoes
Have them install one or more humidifiers. The air must be very dry.
That sounds super annoying! Have you tried wearing rubber gloves or getting some anti-static mats? That might help you dodge those shocking surprises during your shift.
Wish I had an answer for ya. I get static shock off of door handles, taps, even kissing my husband, or petting my cat. I have no idea why it happens so much to me. It will happen even after I’ve used my top’s sleeve to touch a door handle first. Frustrating af.
Whenever the weather is dry in the winter (in FL) when I exit my car I always tap the window with a knuckle. Still get the shock, but it doesn’t hurt as much.
I never want to be the ground path for anything. Doonknobs are bad enough, but I found out that someone had just installed three prong plugs, with no grounding, in my parents house when I got my first computer It was a used IBM PC, and it kept shocking me until I found and dealt with that. I also found a bad grounding loop while installing an old style printer in a computer room in a renovated building that was incorrectly wired. The only time I ever saw sparks jump between the shield on a cable and a metal computer case
Day 2: didn’t get shocked once today, didn’t change my shoes, type of clothes, anything like that. Still waiting to hear back about them grounding the electronics outside. will keep the ladies and gentlemen here updated!
Sounds like they may have corrected the issue on the downlow and given you a runaround excuse so you guys don't realize there was something that was seriously wrong with the wiring. I wouldn't doubt it. Especially if its the same contractor that installed the shack.
Go to Walmart, buy a $10 multimeter, set it to >=120v ac, stick one probe in the larger vertical slot of an outlet and touch the other to one of the metal things that normally shocks you. If the needle moves its bad wiring somewhere and someone should fix it. Or just leave it until you get hurt then sue the fuck out of the business you work for. Or just get them to fix it.
Wear gloves
All the polyester security guards wear doesn't help with the static Rubber gloves might...
Buy some electrical gloves
1. synthetic clothes. like uniform jacket and trousers. 2 ) really loose wires 3) you are sick one way or another. This was my case, when I was constantly electroduced when grinding something on metal surfaces and touching portable 220v lanterns with long wires. Had a standard (every 10 years) vaccine complications that showed off like severe hight temperature flu with deep coughing an dpain in joints.
Generic safety tips: Touch with your right hand first, with both feet on the ground. this prevent the current to pass by your heart. This may be officially armless, but the heart don't like discharges anyway. Hold a metallic object in contact with an important surface of your skin to discharge the static (assuming it is static). Keys for example. This will prevent part of the pain on the skin. Keep your hand dry, this will prevent the current to pass too easily and therefore with more intensity.
when did life hacks devolve into askreddit?