Lightning protection inspection and risk analysis

Since time immemorial, lightning has impressed mankind, making it an attribute of divine power. Lightning has played a part in all mythologies, at all times and at all latitudes.The thundercloud is the most vigorous of all clouds. It's called cumulonimbus, or king of the clouds. Cumulonimbus clouds rarely appear in isolated form, but rather in aggregates. They differ from other shower clouds both in the scale of their vertical and horizontal extension and in their ability to give rise to electrical phenomena.

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Usual structures to be protected:

  • Residential premises
  • Farms, agricultural and horticultural enterprises
  • Cinemas, theaters, opera houses, discotheques, concert halls, hotels, schools, stores, sports facilities
  • Banks, insurance companies, shopping centers, department stores, exhibition halls
  • Hospitals, nursing homes, nurseries, prisons, barracks
  • Industrial buildings
  • Museums and archaeological sites
  • Churches, water towers, chimney silos, buildings
  • Communication infrastructures (antennas, radars, control towers, etc.)
  • Power plants
  • Fireworks factories, ammunition factories, chemical factories, buildings at risk of explosion
  • Refineries, nuclear sites
  • Biochemical sites and laboratories
  • SMEs, data centers
  • Service sector, wastewater treatment plants
  • Wind turbines, airports, windmills
  • Sports halls, public swimming pools, stadiums, railway stations, public buildings
  • Police stations, fire departments, ambulance services
  • etc.

What you need to know

Our physicists investigate the most suitable lightning protection method for you. They then link their findings to the appropriate construction and installation techniques.
Lightning striking a structure can cause damage to the structure, its occupants and their property, including equipment failure, particularly to internal networks.

Lightning strikes:

  • directly on your building's structure ;
  • the ground near the structure;
  • services connected to the structure;
  • the ground near services connected to the structure.

Can cause:

  • physical damage to the structure (fire, explosion, mechanical destruction, chemical fumes, dangerous sparks) due to lightning current ;
  • injury to living beings due to contact and step voltages (electric shock);
  • internal network failures (electrical and electronic) due to the electromagnetic effects of lightning;
  • perforation of electrical installations, fire and property damage;
  • failure of electrical and electronic equipment and networks (e.g. televisions, computers, modems, telephones, etc.);
  • secondary risk due to loss of power and risk of death for people or livestock;
  • production losses ;
  • irreplaceable loss of cultural heritage;
  • unacceptable loss of public services;
  • consequences of fire and explosion for the site and its environment.

Lightning protection systems should be designed and installed by specialist designers and installers. A lightning protection specialist is a person who, on the basis of his or her training, knowledge and experience, and mastery of the application of lightning protection standards, is capable of designing, building and/or inspecting a lightning protection system. The concepts of design, implementation and/or inspection require knowledge in various fields.

Vinçotte specialists can help you protect yourself against lightning strikes:

  • by carrying out a lightning risk analysis in accordance with the new NBN EN 62305- 2 standard;
  • carrying out pre-use checks on the structure's external and internal protection, in accordance with the new NBN EN standard
  • by carrying out periodic lightning protection inspections in accordance with the old NBN C 18-100 standard or the new NBN EN 62305 standard.

Advantages

Vinçotte provides you with lightning protection specialists. They have a sound knowledge of the physical phenomena involved, as well as of the application of the various design and standard calculation methods, and the installation requirements for the various components of a lightning and overvoltage protection system, and are familiar with construction and installation techniques.