TL/DR: Ignoring humidity can also cost a company a lot of money. This also applies in a very real way to inkjet CtP equipment, and conventional press rooms. Those environmental ratings on machines are real.
I used to work in a similar environment with an external door near the work environment and generous amounts of windows. In the summer heat the humidity was very high outside and sun was coming in (despite tinting) which caused even more heat in the digital production room. This caused the AC to run constantly (which also dries the air). In the Winter the same problems were caused by electric heating (also dries the air) mixed with dry winter air being constantly provided through the door. The room was small and a small humidifier running full blast 24/7 helped band aid the problem.
I've witnessed some very expensive service calls because they shorted due an electrical arc caused purely by persistently too low humidity. A couple of stories:
Once was for a CtF machine back ~2002 and I actually saw the arc when the technician came to troubleshoot the machine. It was exhibiting extremely weird electrical behaviors, but only in the winter. The board was ~$15,000. Afterwards, the owner finally listened and implemented a controlled room with a dedicated AC/heat unit and humidity controls. This is when I learned about the critical nature of humidity controls.
At a different shop I worked at a Heidelberg SM102 control cabinet board fried for the same reason. I had observed the feeder operator going through insane amounts of "static spray" and reported this to the production manager and general manager. I warned them it was only a matter of time before an arc or discharge severely damaged equipment and that the solution was to mandate that the door near the feed of the press not be used. The door was basically being used for people to go outside for smoke breaks. After the >$20,000 repair the door was permanently made into a fire-esecape/egress door only as it was very near the electrical cabinets. Static problems in the winter pretty much completely went away in the entire press room.
All of this has pretty nasty effects on color quality, consistency and calibration too. Paper jams are commonly caused by too little humidity leading to static clinging. The device(s) can also produce weird faults if too low humidity leads to static buildups leading to arcing within the machine(s). It is ideal for printing (and pretty much critical for electrostatic) to be done in a humidity and climate controlled environment without external doors. If the room is small enough and not constantly loosing its contents to the outside a small home style humidor (~$30) will definitely help. For a large area industrial or "whole home" style humidification (~$175 - $1,000) setup may be required.
