In the unlikely event of a stray voltage or short circuit in electrified equipment, conductive floors expose workers to more electrical current than static-dissipative flooring. For this reason, standards for telecommunications and flight-control spaces, where personnel may come into contact with electrified equipment, prohibit the use of conductive flooring.
In most cases, particularly with ESD carpet, conductive materials offer no static-control advantage over static-dissipative flooring as far as inhibiting charges on people walking on the floor. In August, 2011, an independent lab study compared the charge-generation performance of static-dissipative carpet tile against conductive carpet tile. The results were nearly identical with the slight advantage in favor of static-dissipative carpet. As there are no performance benefits, there’s no incentive to risk liability or compromise the safety by sidestepping established grounding standards, such as ATIS 0600321.2015, FAA 019f, and Motorola R56.