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General

This appendix provides guidance for personal safety during thunderstorms and mainly applies to behaviour when outdoors.

Measures for the protection of persons which should be incorporated in lightning protection systems for buildings and structures are outlined in other sections.

Personal Conduct

Persons seeking protection from lightning should observe the following precautions:

1. Seek shelter in a substantial building with at least normal headroom or within a totally enclosed, metal bodied vehicle. Conventional fabric tents offer no protection; small sheds offer uncertain protection.
2. If on open ground, remote from shelter, crouch down, singly, with feet together. Footwear or a layer of any non-absorbing material, such as plastics sheet, offers some protection against ground currents, should there be a nearby lightning flash.
3. If in an open boat keep a low profile. Additional protection is gained by anchoring under relatively high objects such as jetties and bridges, provided that no direct contact is made with them. Avoid isolated buoys and pylons.
4. Avoid riding horses or bicycles, or riding in any open vehicle such as a tractor or beach buggy, or in any enclosed vehicle with a non-metallic roof.
5. Avoid swimming or wading.
6. Persons in an exposed position during the approach of a thunderstorm are advised to seek shelter. If the time interval between a lightning flash and hearing the thunder become less that 15 s, move quickly to a protected location as there is immediate danger of a lightning strike nearby.
7. Avoid high ground and isolated trees. If the vicinity of a tree cannot be avoided, seek a position just beyond the spread of the foliage.
8. Avoid touching or standing close to tall metal structures, wire fences and metal clothes lines.
9. Avoid handling substantial metallic objects and remove metal objects from the hair or head covering.
10. Limit the use of telephones when a thunderstorm is overhead.
11. Avoid contact with electrical appliances and metal objects e.g. stoves, refrigerators, metal window frames, sinks, radios and television sets.
12. If the use of household appliances or the telephone is unavoidable keep clear of other appliances and metal objects, and keep any such use brief.