use List::MoreUtils qw(any);  #instead of using: 
                              #     "if (grep( m/whatever/, @list)){}"
                              #use: "if (any { m/whatever/} @list){}" 
                              #this exits on the first occurrence.

if (!any {m/^\Q$record[3]\E$} @esList){ 
   #the \Q\E guarantees that the value held in the $record[3] 
   #is not interpreted as a regular expression

    push (@esList = $record[3]);
}
### @esList is now a unique list of the values you want...