Lightning Safety Policy for Intercollegiate and Club Sports
1. The flash-to-bang count will be utilized to monitor impending lightening strikes. By the time the flash-to-bang count reaches 30 seconds, all participants should be in the designated safe location. The indoor pool should also be evacuated. Athletes should leave heavy or cumbersome equipment in place and move safely, but quickly to the designated facility.
Rationale: Light travels faster than sound, which travels at approximately 1 mile/second. Begin counting on he lightening flash, and stop counting when the associated clap of thunder is heard. Divide the time to thunder by five to determine the distance to the lightening flash. If the flash-to-bang count is 30 seconds, then the flash was 6 miles away, and the next strike could conceivably be above the observer.
2. The designated safe structure for the Smith College athletic fields, outdoor track, and tennis courts will be the field house. Members of the crew team will utilize the boathouse. Within the safe structure, no use of landline telephones or plumbing should be permitted. Cellular phones or 2-way radios should be used if assistance is needed.
Rationale: Frequently inhabited buildings with electrical wiring and plumbing are the safest structures during a lightening storm. The plumbing and wiring assist in grounding the building and it is hazardous to be connected with those systems. This is also why it is unsafe to be in an indoor pool during a lightening storm.
3. If a team is a considerable distance from a sturdy, frequently inhabited building, any vehicle with a hard metal roof and rolled-up windows can provide a measure of safety.
Rationale: The metal enclosure of the vehicle guides the lightening current around the passengers rather than through them. Do not touch the outside of the vehicle.
4. If no safe structure is within a reasonable distance, participants should try to find a thick grove of smaller trees surrounded by taller trees or a dry ditch. Stay away from the tallest trees or objects (flag poles, light poles), metal objects (fences, bleachers), individual trees, standing pools of water, and open fields.
Rationale: Lightening generally strikes the highest object. If you are standing under an isolated tree, the lightening may jump from the tree to you.
5. If you feel your hair stand on end or your skin tingle, a lightening strike is eminent. You should assume a crouched position with only the balls of your feet touching the ground, wrap your arms around your knees, lower your head, and cover your ears. DO NOT LIE FLAT!
Rationale: Contact with the ground must be minimized as lightening current often travels across the ground and into the victim. Decreasing the surface area touching the ground minimizes the amount of current entering the body. Crouching low to the ground decreases the risk of a strike from above. Victims of lightening strikes often have damage to their ears, so covering the ears may diminish the damage.
6. Once activities are suspended, you must wait at least 30 minutes after the last flash of lightening or sound of thunder before moving back outside.
Rationale: The typical storm moves at approximately 25 miles per hour. Waiting thirty minutes allows the storm to be 10-12 miles away, minimizing the risk of a nearby lightening strike. Lightening can strike in the absence of rain and from apparently blue skies overhead.
