I might just get my head blown off for this.....
Here's my 02cents worth...
We have ± 250 CPE's (grows by about 5 - 8 per week) and 27 BSS scattered around the area...
Approx ½ of them are mounted on plastic stand-offs in plastic boxes (UV stabilized) - which effectively isolates the components from any naughty little sparks damaging the equipment ...
The rest are in metal enclosures with all the sweets, grounding straps and the rest...
Here's the thing...
We have LESS component damage / destruction on the plastic assemblies (non-grounded) than we do with the rest... In fact (touch wood) we have had NO damages to the plastic enclosures at all.
Like I said - just our experiances...
We operate in a summer season which has SERIOUS - and I mean SERIOUS thunder storms and lightning.
It remains an ongoing debate in our offices whether to ground or not to ground...
Earthing and grounding is a science on it's own - I know - so I'll be interested to hear other opinions.
regards
Tanker