Surge Protection Interior Grounding and Bonding

Dangerous surges that can damage or destroy critical equipment can come from external sources such as lightning, electrical power, or phone/cable utilities or be generated internally by the operation of equipment with heavy load demands at start-up (e.g., copiers, HVAC systems, etc.).  The use of multi-port equipment and equipment racks typical to a 911 operation further increase the opportunities for such surges to be transmitted from one machine/area to another.  One key to controlling this exposure is through a well-designed interior grounding and bonding system that assures all components within a given area have the same ground reference potential.  From our review, it does not appear that the 911 center has a system for achieving this control.  To assist you in developing an effective strategy to improve the current system, we recommend your organization contact a qualified radio installation or lightning protection company to evaluate the current system and provide recommended actions.  Related to this, We also noted that surge protection devices should be installed on the inner conductor of the antenna feed lines coming from the tower.  These devices generally require a ground connection to properly function and are installed at the point of entry into the building using a grounding bus that is bonded to the building’s single point ground.  Again, a qualified contractor should be able to help you address this area.