A direct lightning strike can cause severe damage to a building’s structure, and its internal electronic systems, putting lives at risk. From high-rise offices to hospitals, shopping centres to stadiums, a compliant lightning protection system, installed by a competent Specialist Contractor, will be essential to minimising the damage that can occur.
Lightning protection systems are designed to intercept, conduct and disperse a lightning strike safely to earth. They should be designed, installed and tested in accordance with BS EN 62305, the recognised British Standard.
To ensure that adequate lightning protection is installed on a building, the design risk level for the structure should be calculated in accordance with BS EN 62305-2:2012 Protection Against Lightning – Risk Management, the recognised British Standard for the design, installation and testing of lightning protection systems.
The LPI has produced this Simplified Risk Assessment Table providing an essential reference guide for clients who may have little or no information available on the structure and will be faced with varying proposals and quotations. The table is designed to help them select the correct level of lightning protection for their project which is compliant with BS EN 62305 rather than simply the lowest price.
The myth that ‘lightning never strikes twice’ will not provide a building with the protection that it needs. The consequences of inadequate lightning protection can be serious and only qualified Specialist Contractors have the knowledge and skills to test and inspect the system properly and prepare an accurate report identifying any non-compliance issues.
A number of contractors are also specially trained in electrical earthing systems, which capture and disperse electrical current to ensure a site remains safe at all times. They are designed for applications operating at relatively low frequencies, such as sub-stations, transformers, generators and MRI equipment, and sophisticated technology is used to determine ground resistivity before the appropriate electrical earthing system is installed, tested and inspected in line with industry standards including BS 7430:2011+A1:2015 Code of Practice for Protective Earthing of Electrical Installations.
