How Serious is Static Electricity?

seanadams.com asks: "My company is considering the purchase of a small surface-mount assembly line so we can do our manufacturing in-house, and the issue of static control has come up. We've all been told to take ESD precautions when handling electronics, but how much precaution is enough? Obviously we plan to do the easy stuff like making sure that equipment and work surfaces are properly grounded. However, many shops go even further - conductive shoe straps, wrist staps, special flooring, humidity control, etc. The SMT equipment vendor says that it's unnecessary, and I would tend to agree. I've handled tons of electronics over the years and have never been able to attribute a single failure to ESD damage. Granted, Silicon Valley is a fairly humid area so that may be a contributing factor. Has the ESD threat been blown way of proportion by the guys who sell those little grey bags?"

Dry eyes and dust in the wind

[Urox]

Granted, Silicon Valley is a fairly humid area...

Which Silicon Valley are you talking about? Unless you're incredibly close to the water, you're in the desert.

Re:True

[b_pretender]

I've been working with computers for many users, and where I live its not-so-humid, and I've never blown a computer with static electricity. Heck.. I run a server in my shed and its been running for 3 years with a hick.

You really ought to get the hick to move out of your shed and get his own trailer or something. I had a hick live in my garage and I was constantly finding empty beer bottles and he was shooting up all the signs. A hick's living space in no place for a server.