Article: Managing Static With ESD Flooring

Managing Static With ESD Flooring

Summary
To protect their sensitive electronic equipment, call rooms and other mission critical command centers need static protection they can rely on. With so many options, choosing the right static control floor can be a challenge for architects, designers and facilities managers. The most important criteria to remember are these:

The floor must be compatible with the environment;
The material should require a minimal amount of maintenance;
The floor must meet the electrostatic requirements of the facility.By following these few simple guidelines, choosing the right floor can be relatively painless and easy. And static, the invisible threat inside the call center, will no longer compromise job performance or threaten to damage or destroy sensitive electronic or telephony equipment.

Dave Long, Principle Partner of Julie Industries, Inc., has been solving static problems in companies worldwide for more than twenty-five years. His articles have appeared in numerous trade and technical journals and he frequently leads box-lunch seminars for architects and designers. Dave can be reached by email at dave@staticworx.com.

Static Control Flooring Checklist

Only conductive floors can be grounded. Standard flooring installed with ground strips or conductive adhesive will not offer any static protection.
Any effective conductive floor can be verified with an ohm meter to determine the electrical resistance of the material. If the material does not pass the ohm meter test than it cannot be grounded.
Conductive floors should never require any antistatic sprays or waxes to enhance or maintain performance. The conductivity should be achieved by the actual permanent physical composition of the material.
The floor should reduce static electricity regardless of relative humidity. Ask the supplier specifically about performance in very dry conditions
The floor must prevent static build-up in real world conditions without special conductive shoes or shoe straps. When in doubt ask for independent test data verifying this property. It should be available.
Never assume that a shock free environment means a static free environment. A shock free environment only means that static charges are below 3500 Volts.
Do the homework up front. It is much more costly to remove an ineffective floor and replace it than it is to do it right the first time.
Any mission critical space is only as secure as its Achilles' heel. Even if your present electronics are immune to static, if at some point in the future they will be upgraded or replaced with state-of-the-art equipment, then static will be a problem. As with any potential security breach, it is always best to plan ahead.

Managing Static: The Invisible Threat to Call Centers -

*This article originally appeared in the May '04 issue of Emergency Number Professional Magazine.

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Managing Static With ESD Flooring