Hospitals are among the most sensitive facilities in any infrastructure network. They are designed with redundancy, backup power, and layered safety systems – but lightning risk isn’t just about structural damage. It’s about how a strike can ripple through interconnected systems in ways many teams underestimate.
Here’s how it unfolds.
1. The Strike Itself
A direct or nearby lightning strike doesn’t have to “hit the building” to cause disruption. The real danger often comes from:
- Transient overvoltages traveling through power lines
- Ground potential rise affecting earthing systems
- Electromagnetic coupling into sensitive equipment
Even well-protected facilities can experience internal surges if grounding, bonding, or surge protection systems are not designed for the site’s actual risk profile.
2. Immediate Operational Impact
Hospitals rely on:
- Life support systems
- Imaging equipment (MRI, CT)
- Electronic medical records
- Nurse call systems
- Pharmacy refrigeration
- HVAC systems for controlled environments
A lightning-induced surge doesn’t have to cause a full power outage to create a crisis. Partial system failures, equipment resets, or corrupted controls can disrupt critical care environments in seconds. Backup generators may engage – but they don’t protect against all surge pathways or internal system disturbances.
3. The Hidden Risk: Internal Systems
One of the most common misconceptions is that lightning protection is mainly a structural concern. In healthcare facilities, internal electrical and electronic systems are often the true vulnerability.
Sensitive medical equipment can be affected by:
- Secondary surges
- Data system interruptions
- Control system instability
Even brief disruptions can delay procedures, affect patient monitoring, or force temporary relocation of services.
4. Compliance vs. Reality
Hospitals often meet required standards, but:
- Risk assessments may be outdated
- Site changes (new wings, equipment, rooftop systems) may not be reflected
- Protection measures may not account for evolving electrical loads
Compliance is a starting point. Real protection depends on how well the risk model reflects the facility as it operates today.
5. What a Lightning Risk Assessment Should Be Catching
For healthcare facilities, a robust assessment should evaluate:
- Actual strike probability based on real-time, precise lightning data, as well as site-specific location and structural information
- Internal system exposure
- Surge protection coordination
- Grounding and bonding effectiveness
- Critical system redundancy under surge conditions
It’s not just about preventing structural damage – it’s about ensuring that life-critical operations remain stable during and after a lightning event.
Hospitals are built for resilience, but resilience depends on how well invisible risks are understood and modeled. Lightning doesn’t need to cause visible damage to create serious consequences.
In our next issue, we’ll look at a very different environment – where downtime means millions per hour: Data Centers.
