Years past, while working in the industry, we experienced quite a few problems with static destroying components.
Long story short, the solution was to store and ship parts wrapped in aluminium foil.
All problems with static disappeared.
This was before the advent of anti static bags, conductive packaging etc.
Our rule became wearing static straps and to use metal shielding.
Fast forward to today, this early discovery is still applicable.
A static strap should always be used to prevent problems as such.