Across the UK, there are hundreds of injuries to individuals every year because of lightning strikes and follow up secondary electrical surges.
While you may be struggling to remember the last time you saw lightning, it is a real and present danger in Scotland and is part of a legal requirement for building owners to protect occupants from.
This can be done with a lightning protection system designed, installed and maintained by Balmore Specialist Contracts.
What is a lightning protection system?
It is, put simply, a system that helps to reduce/prevent lightning strikes from hitting a building. The system can not only protect the external building structure from lightning strikes but can also protect the internal electrical components and fittings of a building. All but eliminating the risk of electrocution and fires that can be caused by lightning strikes.
The system revolves around a fitted lightning conductor. While there are different solutions that can work best for different buildings and locations, this is generally a metal rod made of a conductive material such as copper or aluminium that is mounted to the roof of a building that can intercept a lightning strike. The system can, through additional wiring, then pass the dangerous electrical current safely into the ground below.
Due to the vast power of a lightning strike and the variation in current levels associated with lightning strikes, a lightning protection system fitted to a building can never 100% protect against large scale strikes. A single large lightning strike may cause damage to the systems conductive path while follow up side flashes can still pose a risk. As a leading lightning protection system fitter, we can advise you on all details of how the system works, what it can handle and any additional safety measures that you can take to protect your building.
Why do I need to have a lightning protection system fitted?
While it is not currently a legal requirement to have a lightning protection system fitted, electrical regulations for places of business do mean it should be fitted.
You can find out the full risk of electrical lightning strikes through a mandatory BS EN/IEC 62305 building risk assessment. The risk to a building varies and has to take into account the size of the building, its height and the number of lightning strikes that it may have to cope with in an average year.
The advantages of fitting a lightning protection system
Beyond following the letter of the law, having a lightning protection system fitted will help to protect your buildings stonework structure as well as any internal electrical systems. In high risk lightning ‘hot spots’ across Scotland, a lightning protection system can offer real economic benefits.
Find out more
If you would like to know more about lightning protection systems, the benefits of installing them and how we can design a system for your building, please call us today. You can call our head office in Glasgow on 0141 944 6100 or for businesses on the East Coast of Scotland, you can call our Edinburgh office on 0131 314 2896.
