Extreme weather

[Simon Lyall]

well I found the first line amusing:

This procedure outlines the process required to be conducted in the event of severe weather.

 

but then I read this line at the bottom:

 

In case of lighting, please refer to the following Lighting Protection Procedure

 

 

But we are mear picking at straws and it is nice to see a thread go full circle from the recognition of a risk (which it seems that even in big festivals people don't think about) to some sort of measure to deal with the risk.

 

 

Simon

[Andrew C]

But from the responses to my OP it seems many people are struggling with this very issue.

Indeed; it is quite a challenge, especially having seen the damage caused by a hailstorm in France earlier in the week.

The fear of being sued did not come into play, the health and safety of the punters was the driving force.

I actually find the suggestion offencive.

Not intended, but an awful lot of H&S is coming from a CYA stance, I'm glad you're not.

a car may protect you from the lighting storm, but it is not a good place if a tree, or a branch, falls on the car.

Also, on a side note, punters were actively encouraged not to bring their cars but use public transport. Parking was very limited around the site.

Is it not better to be in a car if a branch or hail falls on you, than outside it? (perhaps marginally?) But that is irrelevant if there are no cars about. I hope the locals don't mind being swamped by festival goers; I can just imagine what would happen in the posh bits of Reading...

[cedd]

With all the talk of lightning.....

 

I'm currently working on lightning protection at work (an airport) and it really is a subject matter all of its own. We sort of ask for trouble by sticking aerials on top of nice big earthed steel towers. We have also had several strikes causing in one storm alone half a million pounds worth of damage. When asked by the insurance company if we had lightning protection we were able to show them the black crumbly lump of charcoal that had previously been our gas discharge line protection and our aerial spark gaps.

You can't ever prevent against a direct hit destroying things and endangering life, but proper bonding and the use of lightning protection on lines at least ensures that with a local strike, the earth potential of everything rises and falls at the same time and your lines are protected.

 

Slightly OT (though not largely I don't think) do any of the large festivals protect their lines from lightning. Imagine if you will a speaker tower being struck (or as I just mentioned above, a strike nearby), the surge is going to put a spike on the speaker lines, through the amps, down your multicore and straight back into the desk. Lightning protective discharge tubes ionise a gas as the surge hits the tube and short the line to earth. I might also add that the instance at work above that I mentioned was a direct hit, not a local one, hence the black and crispy nature of the lightning protection, but we are still using the cable they were there to protect! Perhaps the subject of another topic?

[herb]

As we have been discussing bad weather.

See the following link to an italian site showing the aftermath of extreme weather at a gig near venice.

Festival for 20,000 pulled after delay towers went down.

http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronach...ultimedia.shtml

20 people hurt. None fatal.

Lots of pictures and video.

Take care

Cheers

Herb

[iamchristuffin]

How can we read it, if it's in Italian? Or did you post the link just for the photos and video??

[herb]

A picture tells a thousand words. A video a bit more.

h