The best practice for working during a lightning storm is not to do it at all. While this is the safest way to ensure you never suffer a severe injury or death due to an electrical shock from a lightning storm, it’s not always practical or feasible to avoid working during hazardous conditions.

Some electricians live and work in locations where, if they didn’t work during lightning storms, they’d never make enough of a living to support themselves! If you’re one of those electricians that must work during less than ideal storm conditions, there are some steps you can take to minimize your risk.

Keep an Eye on the Sky

How far away is the storm? Is it likely to produce multiple cells? Will it break for a period and return shortly thereafter? All of this can be found out by taking a peek at your local area’s weather radar. You’ll be able to see the path of an incoming thunder and lightning storm, how large the storm is and what direction it’s moving in - and about how long it will last and if any other storms are on its tail.

When in doubt, check the conditions outside - if there’s active thunder and lightning and it’s right in your immediate area, it’s best to stop working until it passes, even if you’re indoors. If you’ve got subcontractors, crew members or others on the jobsite, it may be helpful to keep them in the loop about what the weather’s going to do so they can prepare themselves and their work appropriately.

Plan Your Tasks Accordingly

Working outdoors in a storm or working indoors directly on a home’s circuitry during a lightning storm is one of the best ways to put yourself at risk of shock from a lightning strike while on a residential jobsite. If you must work on a stormy day, plan your tasks accordingly. For example, take the time while the storm is in your immediate area to perform tasks that do not require direct contact with anything that could serve as an electrical conductor should lightning strike the building you’re in.

This could be anything from sorting and readying your tools to stripping wire for the next part of an install to working on administrative tasks from your cell phone or mobile device. Just because you can’t actively work on the electrical system doesn’t mean you have to sit idle. Once the lightning has passed from the area, you may resume your direct, hands-on tasks for the job.

When You Can’t Stop a Task in Time

If you can’t stop a task for a lightning storm because doing so would put yourself or others at risk, do whatever you can to make yourself a less likely target of a direct strike.

First, put down the metal. Think about every bit of metal you carry on you on a jobsite, from your tools to your car keys. Each one of those is a potential electrical conductor. While it’s a myth that carrying metal can somehow draw lightning to you, it’s also not something you want in your hands if a lightning strike occurs near you.

Next, get as low as you can. Lightning follows the path of least resistance, and that’s almost always the tallest object around. If you can go lower, go lower! If you’re in the vicinity of something that could serve as that path, move, if possible. Telephone poles, large trees, whatever you’ve got that could make a great target for a lightning strike are things you don’t want to be around if you have to keep working. Just being in the general area of a lightning strike while working could lead to major injuries, shocks, and burns.

Working During Lightning Storms - Is It Ever Safe?

It’s never safe to work during lightning storms but sometimes you have no choice but to finish the task at hand before stopping or seeking shelter. If you must continue working during a lightning storm, take precautions to make yourself less likely to be struck by a bolt of lightning and remember that lightning can - and often does - strike the same spot twice. Most storms pass relatively quickly, so if at all possible, busy yourself with other, safer, indoor tasks while you wait it out.

Do you work during lightning storms? What’s your top safety tip for finishing up an essential task that can’t wait?

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