Local paramedic offers tips on what to do to avoid being hit by lightning

With six people being injured in separate lightning incidents in Pretoria Gardens in a single day on Friday 12 March, Shawn Herbst of Netcare 911 emergency services offered some safety tips.

Here are Shawn’s tips:

– Avoid being outside in an open space during thunderstorms.
– If you can hear any thunder, it means you are in the range of a lightning strike. Seek shelter immediately.
– Avoid contact with conductive material, such as computers and landline telephones.
– Do not carry tall metal objects such as golf clubs or fishing rods during thunderstorms.
– Avoid being in or near water.
– Avoid elevated areas and tall objects.
– A car can be a good shelter. Close all the windows and do not touch any metal part of the vehicle.
– A golf cart is not a safe or suitable shelter.
– Wait at least 30 minutes after the last observed lightning strike or thunder before going outside in an open space area again.

If there is no shelter, then:

– Crouch down.
– Put your hands on your knees or over your ears to protect them from the noise of the thunder.
– If you have other people with you, ensure you are all at least four to five metres apart.

If someone is struck by lightning:

– A person struck by lightning is safe to touch.
– Immediately start CPR if the person is not breathing and does not have a pulse.
– Seek emergency medical care immediately.

Herbst said South Africa was one of the highest lightning ground strike areas.

“Primary risk factor remains not reacting to the threat of a lightning strike in time,” he said.

In one of the incidents on 12 March, paramedics attended to a female patient who lost her hearing after lightning struck a tree near her.

On the same evening at around 18:00, paramedics responded to an incident at Pretoria Gardens where five children were playing soccer in a park.

Four of them had to be transported to a nearby facility.

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