Lightning safety campaigns - USA experience

Abstract

Although several individuals in the United States (US) were working on lightning safety efforts, it was not until the early 1990's that researchers from many fields of study began to work together as they became aware of others with similar interests. The first organized effort on a national scale was in 1998 when a multidisciplinary group of recognized lightning researchers and experts met at an American Meteorological Society meeting and agreed on the Lightning Safety Guidelines (LSG) which were published in a number of venues. Beginning in 2001, a Lightning Safety Awareness (LSA) campaign was initiated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with many of the LSG individuals as well as others [1.2]. This campaign, now called Lightning Safety Week (LSW), occurs the last full week of June annually. The LSW website (www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov) has become the premier lightning safety site with general information, games, puzzles, public service announcements as well as special sections for the media, teachers, boaters, and many other interests and concerns. LSW members and others have continued to be active in promoting lightning inj ury prevention, train others, and develop lightning safety themes such as 'When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!' that can be learned by any age. An interactive game using a cartoon character 'Leon, the Lightning Safety Lion' was developed to help teach lightning safety to children but is well liked by adults as well. The materials from this website are all free for download, use and modification by anyone who is interested in injury prevention and lightning safety. Collectively, the LSW team and others have made themselves available for thousands of interviews with newspapers, radio and television, worked on dozens of documentaries, as well as continuing their own research and publication. There has been a steady decrease in the lightning fatality rate over the past twenty years of work with a rate of less than O.lImillion US population in each of the last three years, in part due to the educational efforts of this group and the media's support in disseminating lightning safety information.