Exceeding Standards Compliance
Advanced Lightning and Grounding Services: Where Minimum Standards Aren't Enough
Ever-increasing reliance on electronic systems, sensors and controllers raises the stakes for safeguarding critical assets. For certain occupancies, where operational damage or downtime is simply unacceptable, relying solely on minimum safety standards is often insufficient. While nationally recognized guidelines like NFPA 780 and NEC 70 offer foundational principles, they are just that—the foundation, not the ceiling. Scientific Lightning Solutions (SLS) understands that high-value or mission-critical applications demand more. Our services in lightning protection designs, grounding system designs, and inspections go far beyond these baseline standards to offer an unparalleled layer of safety and operational assurance.
By exceeding nationally recognized safety standards, SLS doesn’t just aim to meet industry requirements; we aim to redefine them. Our meticulously designed systems are rooted in advanced methodologies and cutting-edge diagnostic tools, customized to meet the unique challenges of your facility. This rigorous approach does more than just minimize vulnerabilities—it optimizes operational efficiencies, ensuring that your assets are protected by a comprehensive strategy that accounts for every possible variable. Our sophisticated Standards+ Lightning Protection System Design tool suite offers specialized capabilities, including proprietary 3D simulation tools to target the specific lightning vulnerabilities of complex structures.
When you partner with SLS, you’re not just fulfilling basic safety criteria; you’re investing in a gold standard of protection that sets a new benchmark for electrical resilience and asset integrity.
Several key U.S. standards and guidelines govern lightning protection and grounding systems. SLS engineers are intimately familiar with the provisions of each of these documents and our personnel serve on the Technical Committees for all three of these lightning protection standards. Â
- NFPA 780 – National Fire Protection Association Standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems
- UL 96A – Underwriters Laboratories Installation Requirements for Lightning Protection Systems
- LPI 175 – Lightning Protection Institute Standard of Practice for the Design – Installation – Inspection of Lightning Protection Systems
- IEC 62305 – Protection Against Lightning
- NEC (NFPA 70) – National Electrical Code
- IEEE Std 80 – IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding
- IEEE Std 142 – IEEE Recommended Practice for Grounding of Industrial and Commercial Power Systems (The Green Book)
- UL 467 – Underwriters Laboratories Grounding and Bonding Equipment
- MIL-STD-188/124B – Department of Defense Interface Standard Grounding, Bonding, and Shielding for Common Long Haul/Tactical Communication Systems
- ANSI J-STD-607-A – Commercial Building Grounding (Earthing) and Bonding Requirements for Telecommunications
These standards often work in concert and are designed to provide comprehensive guidelines for both lightning protection and grounding systems. Compliance with these standards is critical for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of these systems. In certain critical applications, exceeding these requirements may be necessary to achieve the level of protection required to achieve operational continuity. SLS’s engineers are arguably the best qualified in the world to design systems for critical applications of this type.Â
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