Electricity + Control May 2018

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Action is Needed to Reduce Lightning Fatalities in South Africa

Information provided by ELPA (Earthing Lightning Protection Association)

Lightning fatalities have reduced dramatically over time in the USA – this as a result of improved educational outreach and public aware- ness. The same needs to be done in South Africa.

Take Note!

The continuing trend in the drop of lightning fatalities’ figures in the United States is ascribed to an improved educa- tional outreach and pub- lic awareness. ELPA is determined to im- plement all programmes necessary in its quest to make serious inroads into the improved protection of life and property. We should not underes- timate the ground-break- ing lightning research that has taken place in South Africa over dec- ades.

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L ast year, lightning deaths in the Unit- ed States reached an all-time low in that country’s recorded history. This is according to a year-end report published recently by the National Oceanic and At- mospheric Administration (NOAA), which cited a total of 16 deaths across the US. This was seven fewer than the previous record low of 23 (2003) and significantly below the previous year’s total of 39 for 2016. Lightning fatalities in America first started being recorded in the 1940s. When lightning fatalities first started being recorded in America, the annual number of deaths reached as high as 432 in 1943. Following the institution of the American National Weather Service’s (NWS) Lightning Safety Campaign in 2001, about 55 lightning deaths occurred each year, based on the previous 10-year average. That death toll has now been re- portedly cut in half, as the current 10-year average is 27 deaths per year. “When you consider the geographic size and population figures of the United States as a country, these latest figures are highly commendable,” says Trevor Manas, the national director of South Africa’s Earthing and Lightning Protec- tion Association (ELPA). “The continuing trend in the drop in the lightning fatalities figures in the United States is ascribed to an improved educational outreach and

public awareness, as the American public has been made aware of the dangers of lightning and knowing when and where to find shelter [1]. “In contrast, South Africa has a dis- turbingly high number of lightning fatali- ties annually. While the average number of local annual lightning deaths is not always easy to estimate, due to such fac- tors as the unrecorded deaths of home- less people and those who are killed by lightning and buried quickly due to cul- tural beliefs, the South African Weather Service has nonetheless estimated a figure of over 300 recorded deaths every year, while acknowledging that this figure could, in fact, be skewed higher [2]. The fact that South Africa has some 300 ac- tual annual recorded deaths, as verified by mortuaries, is a serious cause for con- cern.” Manas says that ELPA is determined to implement all programmes necessary, including educational, in its quest to be- come South Africa’s recognised Nation- al Professional Body for earthing and lightning protection, and make serious inroads into the improved protection of life and property. ELPA was officially es- tablished in June 2017, after two years of hard work by lightning protection indus- try experts from around the country, and is supported by various institutions such

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40 Electricity + Control

MAY 2018