| Risk
Managements Topics
Lightning Safety
According to the National Lightning Safety Institute, lightning
kills more people in the U.S. each year than hurricanes
and tornadoes combined, with 756 people killed between 1990
and 2003. Four to six times more survived, but the vast
majority of those survivors commonly suffer serious long
term effects.
The typical incident occurred on a weekend afternoon, just
when many JCC activities take place. Since the activities
are beneficial and avoiding the locations and times is impractical,
it would be wise to determine what can be done to minimize
the exposure to harm that program participants face.
According to the National Lightning Safety Institute,
lightning
kills more people in the U.S. each year than hurricanes
and tornadoes combined, with 756 people killed between 1990
and 2003. Four to six times more survived, but the vast
majority of those survivors commonly suffer serious long
term effects.
General Protocols
1: Know your area’s propensity for storms
a: Florida was worst with 126 deaths during the period studied…Texas
was second with 52
b: Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania all
had 25 or more
c: Alabama, Illinois, Georgia, and Louisiana rounded out
the top 10
d: Only Alaska and Hawaii had none
2: Know your program’s potential exposure
a: 45% of the incidents for which a location or activity
were reported occurred in an open field or recreation area
(golf excluded)
b: 23% of the incidents for which a location or activity
were reported occurred under trees (golf excluded)
c: 13% of the incidents for which a location or activity
were reported involved swimming, boating, or fishing
d: 8% of the incidents for which a location or activity
were reported involved golf (in the open and under trees
combined)
3: Know your adversary
a: The average thunderstorm is six to ten miles wide and
moves at 25 mph
b: The average lightning strike is five to six miles long,
but can be twice that distance
c: Thunder is usually heard up to twelve miles from the
lightning strike. Given the right terrain, humidity, and
background noise that distance might be significantly less
or slightly more. Generally, if you can hear thunder then
you are in danger from lightning.
d: Lightning strikes can reach up to ten miles beyond the
leading edge of a storm, which explains why many lightning
deaths and injuries occur under cloudless skies
4: Develop a severe weather policy
a: consider issues such as early storm identification of
through weather monitoring
i. seeing lightning or hearing thunder is generally adequate
ii. indoor environments or urban areas with high levels
of ambient noise might need other sources such as
I: weather radio
II: weather television
III: internet weather sites
IV: lightning detection devices - these are available but
are often expensive and unnecessary if there is sufficient
awareness and monitoring via other means
b: address the evacuation of patrons to pre-established
safe zones
i. good choice: dry area inside significant permanent buildings
- but avoid
I: windows
II: use of or proximity to anything electrical, including
switches and anything plugged into the electrical system
III: use of or proximity to telephones
IV: all plumbing
V: any metal objects
ii. potentially good choice: a car, but only if it has a
hard roof and glass windows; avoid any metal component
iii. better than nothing choice: if caught in the open with
no major building accessible,
I: stay close to the ground
II: squat in a cannonball…touch the ground with only
your feet
III: do not lie down on the ground
IV: avoid trees or any tall object… they don’t
provide shelter, they attract the lightning
iv. bad choice: sheds, picnic shelters, dugouts, or other
open shelters
v. really bad choice: anywhere under trees or on a pool
deck (even inside)
c: include a communication system that ensures all involved
staff are well versed in severe weather protocol and that
they are capable of directing the participants of their
program to safety
d: include criteria for when to stop and when to resume
activities
i. The general rule is known as the 30/30 rule. If you can’t
count to 30 (saying one-one thousand, etc.) from when see
lightning until you hear thunder, immediately take appropriate
shelter. Stay there for 30 minutes beyond the time when
you last hear thunder or see lightning.
ii. The 30/30 rule only provides about six miles of separation
from the storm. Because lightning is more common at the
back edge of a storm and because it may extend over ten
miles from its origin, more conservative guidelines suggest
maintaining a ten mile differential (i.e., counting to 50).
iii. If a storm is slow-moving, prudence would delay resumption
beyond 30 minutes to ensure safe separation.
Outdoor activities
For the most part, outdoor activities are fully addressed
under General Protocols above. All staff should be well
trained in all of the procedures. Participants should be
familiar enough that if the need arises, they know what
to do without creating chaos. Emergencies are no place for
on-the-job training.
If the activity planned is not held immediately adjacent
to the JCC facility, staff should locate, investigate, and
obtain permission to access a suitable significant structure
in which to take refuge in case of lightning before the
activity commences.
If the activity is at a site where no suitable structure
exists (e.g., many parks and athletic fields), certain precautions
should be made. There should be adequate transportation
present at the site to remove or shelter all the participants
if necessary. That transportation should be such that there
is not significant exposed metal that may endanger the occupants.
For activities where the JCC does not transport the children
(e.g., parents bring them), protocols should require the
parents to stay for the game or practice. Besides ensuring
adequate shelter and/or transportation in case of an electrical
storm, it also benefits the parent-child relationship and
improves abuse prevention watchfulness.
It is prudent to have a cancellation notification protocol
that informs of program suspension or cancellation via radio,
television, website, or telephone call-in and gives the
site to which participants will be transported when there
is no safe haven at the program location.
Adventure camps or trips generally go to areas where seeking
safety in a building is not an option. Experts agree that
you should stay clear of high-risk areas when thunderstorms
are likely. No matter which geographical region, during
the summer mountains frequently breed late-afternoon thunderstorms,
normally from 2 to 6 p.m. As the day progresses avoid mountaintops
and high ridges (especially any that hide your view of oncoming
storms), exposed areas, and lakes. The summer-in-the-mountains
rule is “up high by noon, back down by two.”
Aquatic activities
The policy to clear an outdoor pool is one that is long
established and well understood by the public. The danger
can be clearly seen and heard. The general protocols above
apply to all aquatic activity. In addition,
1: Develop an evacuation plan that brings pool patrons (i.e.,
individuals coming from an outdoor, active environment who
probably are not fully clothed and are possibly wet) safely
and orderly into shelter..
2: Designate at least one safe zone within your building…not
on an interior pool deck and not in locker rooms; it must
be able to accommodate individuals who may be wet and might
get chilled.
3: When lightning is within ten miles (this is more conservative
than the 30/30 rule) suspend all activity in the pool area
and evacuate people to the established safe area(s). Guards
should clear the entire pool area and lock the entrance.
Frequent practice by the life-guards and staff as well as
clear communication with the swimmers will help to achieve
this goal.
4: Resume activities only when safe: Assuming typical storm
speeds (20 to 25 mph), you may resume activities in the
pool 30 minutes after the last observed lightning or thunder.
Lifeguards must be sure to be in appropriate position for
surveillance before activities resume. Continue to monitor
for additional severe weather.
Water is obviously an excellent conductor of electricity;
the structure surrounding a pool, whether outdoor or indoor,
may also be conductive. Many victims of lightning are not
struck directly but are injured when electric current transverses
the ground or a structure. Swimming pools and their attendant
structures are connected to vast conductive network consisting
of underground water pipes, gas lines, telephone and electric
cables, etc. Electrical energy from a lightning strike in
one location can be transmitted to any other position on
this metallic network.
Thus, if lightning strikes the ground near an indoor pool,
it may enter the building through various low resistance
conductors that come into contact with the building. It
is even possible for adjacent wet ground or nearby tree
roots to be sufficient conductors. Just because a pool was
electrically grounded when initially built does not mean
that changes to plumbing, wiring, or the structure itself
have not compromised that protection. Even an indoor pool
should never be presumed safe from the effects of lightning.
There are no confirmed lightning-caused deaths of individuals
in indoor pools, but there are numerous documented cases
where lightning has traversed a structure and killed an
individual who was inside it. They were generally using
the telephone, touching metal doors or windows, or were
in contact with water sources such as sinks, bathtubs, and
showers. Examples of observed pool-related lightning damage
include the destruction of a main circulation pump, injuries
to employees touching electrical panels, the concrete footing
of a slide blown apart, and even visible lightning inside
the pool area.
Clearing an indoor pool of patrons during an electrical
storm may seem counterintuitive to the average person since
the very purpose of such a pool is to provide a place to
swim during less-than-ideal weather conditions. However,
being sufficient to provide shelter from wind and rain and
cold does not insulate it from potential electrical disaster
via unseen defects or unexpected conditions. Complaints
and objections will probably be voiced by the uninformed.
Explain the potential for harm…the reasonable will
agree that even repeated inconvenience is preferable to
catastrophe. Setting patron safety as the first priority,
the only reasonable approach to lightning safety is to cease
all aquatic activity during nearby electrical disturbances.,
including that conducted indoors.
Please call us at 800-463-8546 to discuss this or any other
risk management safety tip, or visit our web site at http://www.redwoodsgroup.com
to learn more about JCC and Jewish Federations risk management
issues.
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© The Redwoods Group, 2004
Risk Management services are provided by The Redwoods
Group to assist the insured in fulfilling their responsibilities
for the control of potential loss-producing situations
involving their operations. The information contained
is not intended as legal advice; it simply represents
trends in the JCC industry, related industries, and/or
law. Laws and suggested standards are under constant
review by courts, states, and trade groups. They can
be vastly different in each jurisdiction. Individual
organizations are advised to seek the services of
a local personal attorney for legal advice relating
to any subject addressed. The information is provided
"AS IS" without warranty of any kind and
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Group assumes no liability of any kind for information
and data contained or for any course of action you
may take in reliance thereon. Released 03/07/05
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