Abstract
Control of electrostatics has been considered important in hospitals since the advent of anesthesia chemicals for surgical procedures. Now that anesthetics are for the most part not flammable, hospital designers in the United States are rarely considering electrostatics. Since flammable situations are much less likely in hospitals, the US organization, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), has removed any mention of electrostatic control from the Health Care Facility Standard, NFPA 99[1]. This document had always been important for consideration in hospital design, especially surgical suites. The elimination of a requirement for conductive flooring and appropriate footwear have brought about serious consequences regarding electrostatic charge generation and accumulation. Accumulated charge has led to discharge issues resulting in personal injury, electronic equipment damage and loss of significant amounts of data. Figure 1 is an example of recorded voltage on a person while pushing a metal cart in the hospital discussed in Incident three below.
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