ESD Grounding Works & Advantages of having GFCI Breaker

Technical Questions
#1

Greetings Experts!

Based on your experience, kindly advise to my queries below:

  1. ESD Grounding Works
  • Can anybody do the ESD Grounding works for workstations, shelves, wrist strap outlets etc?
    Who is the right PIC? Why?
  • Who needs to liaise with the PIC who performs the ESD Grounding works for workstations, shelves, wrist strap outlets etc? Area/Station owner or Approver?
  • Can the same person perform the ESD Grounding worksprovide approvals too?
  1. Advantages of having GFCI Breaker
  • Based on clause 8.1:
    There are no requirements for a compliance verification plan for testing the grounding system; only initial verification is required. If ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) are installed at the user’s facility, this measurement is not required.
    NOTE: Verification of the grounding system should be considered after electrical system maintenance or service additions.
  • Currently, GFCIs are not installed; only ELCBs are installed in the electrical panel of each production line.
    However, is it essential to have GFCIs compared to ELCBs from the point of view of ESD controls?
    If Yes/No why?

Kindly advise.

Warm Regards,
Logan

#2

Logan,

I will try to answer your questions in bold below

  1. ESD Grounding Works
  • Can anybody do the ESD Grounding works for workstations, shelves, wrist strap outlets etc?
    Who is the right PIC? Why? Anyone who is trained can perform the grounding tests. The person in charge is generally the ESD Program Manager or Coordinator although depending on the size of the organization, this could be the same person who does the testing
  • Who needs to liaise with the PIC who performs the ESD Grounding works for workstations, shelves, wrist strap outlets etc? Area/Station owner or Approver? This depends on how your organization is set up. It is a good idea to make sure the ESD Program Manager and any area/station owner work together to ensure the workstations are tested properly
  • Can the same person perform the ESD Grounding worksprovide approvals too? Yes, there are no restrictions to this in ANSI/ESD S20.20 although it is probably a good idea to have a separate person in charge/approver to oversee the results of the testing depending on the size of the organization. This could be the ESD Program Manager or someone else.
  1. Advantages of having GFCI Breaker
  • Based on clause 8.1:
    There are no requirements for a compliance verification plan for testing the grounding system; only initial verification is required. If ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) are installed at the user’s facility, this measurement is not required.
    NOTE: Verification of the grounding system should be considered after electrical system maintenance or service additions.
  • Currently, GFCIs are not installed; only ELCBs are installed in the electrical panel of each production line.
    However, is it essential to have GFCIs compared to ELCBs from the point of view of ESD controls?
    If Yes/No why? There is nothing that GFCIs provide that reduce ESD risks that I know of. The reason why the requirement to measure the equipment grounding conductor impedance is not required for facilities with GFCIs is because the equipment used to perform this test may trip the GFCI and could bring down the entire facilities electrical system
#3

Hello,
Greetings of the day to all from India

As Andy Sir has mentioned it is ultimately overall responsibility of the concerned ESD Program Manager or Coordinator of the respective EPAs or the entire organization who will be responsible to certify the performance effectiveness ( Compliance verification certification internally ) of the respective EPAs or the entire organization and report directly to the Top management or through the Head of the section if there is a separate Head for each EPA.

ANSI ESD S 20 20 2021 does not call for that the said ESD Program Manager or Coordinator shall be an ESD Control trained personnel, but it is good if he /she is also qualified and trained on the Basic ESD control Program procedure as it is his /her’s sole responsibility of the EPA/s.

Basically in any organization it is fundamentally the Electrical maintenance department’s responsibility to ensure all is well on the required grounding system before connecting it to the the total EPA and system. And, once they certify it and as long as there is no leakage in Neutral - ground ( advised to user for a casual check in between as a precaution) , as Andy Sir has stated above , there are no requirements for a compliance verification plan for testing the grounding system and only initial verification is required.

In my opinion, if you have installed ELCBs no separate GFCIs needed.

Thank you

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