This week is Lightning Safety Awareness Week (June 24-30)! Kicking off Lightning Safety Awareness Week we had our first named storm of the season in the Tampa  Bay area over the weekend, Tropical Storm Debby. In honor of this week and with summer and storm season just begun, here are some lightning safety tips.

Lightning Safety Tips:

• Treat lightning with proper caution. If you are outside and a thunderstorm approaches, immediately seek shelter inside, in a home, large building or substantial, fully enclosed building, all preferably protected with a lightning protection system.
• If a building is not available, take shelter in a car with a metal top and keep doors and windows closed.
• If caught outdoors, try to minimize your risk by going to a place of lower elevation.
• Certain locations are extremely hazardous during thunderstorms. Avoid lakes, beaches or open water; fishing from a boat or dock; and riding on golf carts, farm equipment, motorcycles or bicycles. Take shelter in tunnels, subways, even ditches or caves if necessary—never under a tree!
• To avoid side flashes (voltage from a nearby struck object) stay clear of fences or isolated trees. Keep away from telephone poles, power lines, pipelines or other electrically conductive objects.
• Stay off the telephone. In your home, do not stand near open windows, doorways or metal piping. Stay away from the TV, plumbing, sinks, tubs, radiators and stoves. Avoid contact with small electric appliances such as radios, toasters and hairdryers.

Protecting Your Electronics

• Have a lightning protection system installed for your home or business.
• Be sure the lightning protection system is designed and installed in accordance with accepted industry standards and with National Fire Protection Association, Lightning Protection Institute and UL requirements.
• Include protection for electrical, telephone, cable or satellite TV lines entering the structure.
• Make sure all equipment is UL listed and properly labeled.

Lightning protection systems are designed to protect a structure and provide a specified path to harness and safely ground the super-charged current of the lightning bolt. The system neither attracts nor repels a strike, but receives the stroke and routes it harmlessly into the earth, thus discharging the dangerous electrical event. Investment in a lightning protection system will protect your personal or organization’s investment in its property and equipment.

Lightning Safety Tips from Insurance Information Institute, Inc.