Hi Experts,
would like to seek clarification regarding compliance verification of grounding systems. it says in S20.20 that compliance verification of grounding system is not required however, as I checked in S6.1 section 6.2, states that grounding systems must be periodically verified. Please advise.
thank you in advance.
Greetings of the day from India to all on the forum platform. 
Yes Sir,
you are right that compliance verification of grounding systems not required except for only the initial verification by the maintenance dept. of the organization.,
But a routine maintenance verification by the maintenance dept is recommended which is TR53-01-2022/ 7.1.2
Because without a perfect grounding system connected to your ESD facility you are always at ESD risk . Thus , as a simple test per TR 53-01 with a simple 3 pin top Ac analyzer the user at the EPA using any EPE is advised to check the perfection of the ground often while doing the CV test for the EPEs in use.
Thank you
thank you very much for your inputs
There are two reasons that grounding systems do not need to be part of the verification plan. First, there are many places where a certified electrition needs to do that test. An ESD manager will not be allowed.
While direct measurement of a grounding system is not required, most of the compliance verification testing is a resistance to ground test. It is not a direct test of the grounding system but if there was a ground fault, such as an open ground, this test would fail and the failure would have to be found. The resistance to ground checks the entire system with one test.
Hi John,
thank you for your response. Since S6.1 is the reference test method, what would be the best approach since it is a shall statement.
thank you.
The verification is only needed for the intial qualification. In the US, before a building can be used, a certificate of occupancy is needed. As part of that, the electical system is suppose to be verified. This can be used as objective evidence.
Alternalty, the ground impedence can be measured once and create a record. Once that is done, it does not need to be repeated for compliance verification. If you have an impedence meter, the measurement is neutral to ground. Be aware, if there is a lot of equipment operating, then noise on the ground or neutral line may cause incorrect readings.
thank you very much.