I will side with Lewm that the simple act of playing our records does not generate significant static
Bill, thanks for your contribution here! I tried to stay out of it as long as I could, too.
I agree that playing records does not constitute a significant explosion risk. As an Aussie, I wish I could say the same about coal dust in a mine, or dust from grains in a silo.
Use of the word "significant" is significant. To me, static is significant if it causes pops by, in effect, super-gluing dust particles to the groove. To others, it may only seem significant if there are sparks and kilovolt read outs. But if you look at the atmosphere, there is almost a kilovolt potential difference between your head and your feet and it is of no significance in everyday life. Except if you are soldering sensitive components, when you should be using a wrist band to connect yourself to a conductive work surface.
First and foremost I will admit that I am not particularly interested in the root causes for static buildup on records
There we differ, especially when confronted by a blanket statement that it is not caused by the stylus, when all the physics I know says it could be! That statement has since been slightly softened ...
there are any number of devices that work to reduce it
I know we both miss our Dust Bugs. Boy, the dust they picked up was phenomenal. Not sure they did anything about static, though. But many devices simply don’t work or may make things worse if not used properly. Zerostats and similar emit positive ions on one stroke, and then negative ions. You have to somehow reduce the dose to zero, or you will end up with a charged record.
there are things you can do to improve your home environment
Such as centralised heating systems that include electrostatic precipitators to eliminate the smallest dust particles, but only if the dust particles are charged!
On dust covers, I now have one turntable with one, and one without. To my great surprise, when I measured the effect of opening the lid there was no significant increase in feedback from the speakers. But obviously, a thousand-fold less air volume is available to supply dust when the lid is closed.
The Holbo air bearing system on the other hand cannot be played with its optional cover in place. The tonearm bearing has about 10 microns clearance and is reputedly machined to 3 microns tolerance. There are warnings not to move the arm unless the air supply is on, and a cloth is supplied to protect the bearing when not in use. For comparison, 10 microns seems to be about the smallest particle bothering a record groove.