KILLED BY LIGHTNING
SCORES of people have been killed by lightning in the UK over the past 30 years, research reveals.
Research by Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) and Oxford Brookes University found 58 people were known to have been killed between 1987 and 2016.
That is, on average, two people per year.
While the research only goes up to 2016, news reports show at least two more victims of lightning strikes between 2017 and 2019.
Although lightning is a potentially lethal high-voltage electric current, it has contact with a person for only milliseconds, unlike if someone touches a bare electrical wire.
The short-lived electric current may simply pass over the surface of a person’s skin or clothes, with many people who experience a lightning strike suffering no
burns.
However, there are occasions when a large amount of the current penetrates the skin causing serious burns and major damage to internal organs, which may lead to cardiac arrest.
According to the research, the risk of being killed by lightning in the UK over the period was one death per year for every 33 million people.
In the last 10 years it dropped to one death for every 71 million people.
The likelihood of being killed by lightning is much lower than it was a century ago, when it was around one person in every two million.
Between 1887 and 1916, there were 553 deaths due to lightning.
According to TORRO, one of the reasons for a fall in deaths since the 1850s is because fewer people are employed in outdoor occupations (especially agriculture), as well as improved health and safety regulations for those still working in these jobs.
As well as this, more people moved to urban areas, where buildings provided relative safety, with building regulations
making those more lightning proof.
Between 1987 and 2016, 15 per cent of those who died were engaging in workrelated activities, 13 per cent were carrying out day-to-day activities near home, and 72 per cent were doing outdoor leisure, recreation and sports pursuits.
Men accounted for 83 per cent of all lightning deaths - reflecting that men make up a higher proportion of those doing outdoor work-related activities, specific outdoor leisure activities (hill and mountain walking), and sports activities (cricket, fishing, football and golf).
The research used figures from the Office for National Statistics and TORRO’s National Lightning Incidents Database.
Deaths caused indirectly by lightning, such as when someone was killed in a house or factory by a fire started by lightning, were not included in these statistics.