Facility Design

This article discusses the risks of electrostatic discharge (ESD) in healthcare settings and the new ESDA TR29 guidance document. It outlines causes of ESD, potential hazards like equipment malfunction and data loss, and preventive measures such as static control flooring, proper grounding, and humidity control. The article also describes recommended ESD control programs for healthcare facilities.

Secure facility designs often comingle ICS/ICD-705 and NSA 94-106 performance requirements creating project confusion with significant design and cost implications. This article focuses on bringing some clarity to the differences between ICS/ICD-705 design guidance and NSA 94-106 performance requirements. The related secure facility design and construction process is also reviewed.

If you really want to know whether your footwear and flooring are working together, measure the resistance from the wearer via footwear and flooring to earth (ground).

High reliability organizations (HROs) typically implement stringent static control programs to mitigate the risks of catastrophic and/or life-threatening failures. This article describes some of the considerations to consider for static control flooring in these more demanding environments.

A fully functional ESD floor prevents static generation and provides an effective path to ground for personnel and equipment. Many conductive and dissipative floors meet STM 7.1 resistance parameters in ANSI/ESD S20.20 but fail to provide adequate electrical contact for grounding equipment with conductive casters and drag chains.

Secure facility designs often comingle ICS/ICD-705 and NSA 94-106 design requirements, creating project confusion with significant design and cost implications. This article focuses on bringing some clarity to the differences between ICS/ICD-705 design guidance and NSA 94-106 performance requirements. The related secure facility design and construction process is also reviewed.

In this column, we’ll discuss the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) newly proposed...