ESD protection continuous monitoring device

An electro-static discharge (ESD) protection continuous monitoring device includes two or more resistance comparison circuits which compare the grounding resistances to earth ground of two or more electrical nodes to a maximum acceptable ESD protection resistance mandated by the ESD protection specification. An ESD protection failure indicator is driven by a logic circuit coupled to the resistance comparison circuits and activates when one or more of the resistance comparison circuits detects that the grounding resistance is greater than the maximum acceptable ESD protection resistance. The ESD protection continuous monitoring device includes a reference resistor which represents the maximum acceptable ESD protection resistance for any given monitored node. A reference resistor failure indicator notifies the operator that the reference resistor is faulty. In another embodiment, a semiconductor handling system includes a fully operational semiconductor handler which is equipped with an ESD protection continuous monitoring device that uses the same power supplies as the semiconductor handler itself.