Lightning Protection Standards

The design of a suitable lightning protection system should always be undertaken by a suitably qualified BS EN 62305 2006 designer with certification to prove their competence, however unfortunately this is not always the case and unscrupulous designers have been known to deliberately under specify the design requirements ensuring they are then awarded the business.

At Churchill Specialist Contracting all Lightning protection designers are fully certificated and as part of very specialised and qualified team work under two renowned and highly beneficial quality systems: UKAS OHSAS 18001 and ISO 9001 both with LRQA. All directly employed site engineers are qualified to a minimum NVQ level 2 industry standard an achievement unparallel in the lightning protection sector.

Churchill Specialist Contracting offer two types of lightning protection the conventional Faraday cage type installation and the Pulsar ESE System of lightning protection that conforms to the European code NFC17-102 1995.

The BS EN 62305 2006 standard is split into 4 parts, Part 1 outlines the theory behind the protection methods that the other 3 parts require. Part 2 looks at risk management in installation and calculates the risk of loss of human life, loss of service to the public, loss of cultural heritage and loss of economic value. The third part details the protection measures required as a lightning protection system comprises of 3 main components, an air termination network to capture the lightning protection, down conductors to take the charge down to the ground and an earth termination system to disperse the lightning current safely to earth. Part 4 of the standard is the requirements to lightning protect electronic systems from a lightning electromagnetic impulse. Many modern systems need protection from the threat of lost and destroyed data, equipment damage, and repair work for remote and unmanned stations, loss of production and most importantly the reduction of a potential Health & Safety hazard.

Churchill Specialist Contractors offer onsite training via the OSAT route in the nationally recognised qualification NVQ. To qualify and work towards these qualification candidates must have 2 years Approved Prior Learning (APL) experience. As all Churchill’s directly employed engineers have this NVQ qualification you can be assured you are working with experienced and competent engineers.

So while lightning protection can be installed by contractors in closely related sectors such as electricians, alarm engineers etc if you don't want to take advantage of complete lightning protection installation services it is always worth having an inspection by a fully accredited company like Churchill Specialist Contracting to ensure lightning protection system will be effective and comply with all relevant standards.