Local News
Lightning surge injures 911 dispatcher
RICHMOND —
A severe storm in early May caused flooding in Madison County that led to one death and also caused a lightning power surge that injured an emergency dispatcher.
A dispatcher was treated for electrical shock on May 2 after lightning sent a power surge through the dispatcher’s headset, said Wendy Lynch, Madison County E-911 director.
Citing federal privacy laws that prohibit disclosure of patients’ medical information, Lynch would not give the nature of the dispatcher’s injury. However, the dispatcher missed work to recover and did not return until cleared by a physician.
The E-911 dispatch center is housed in a facility owned by the Madison County Emergency Management Agency. Michael Bryant, assistant EMA director, said the communications system, including its 400-foot radio tower, are grounded in accordance with industry safety standards. But, the system is to be inspected “to see if there is anything else we can do” to prevent harm to dispatchers from lightning-generated power surges.
Telephone companies and safety consultants recommend not using phones during an electrical storm, but E-911 must remain in communication with the public during times of potential emergencies, Lynch said.
She has told dispatchers that they may remove their headsets during electrical storms and listen to callers on loud speakers.
Although that will increase dispatch center noise, Lynch said dispatchers are accustomed to a noisy environment and occasionally relying on loud speakers should not diminish the quality of E-911 service.
In her 13 years working with E-911 dispatch, Lynch said the May 2 incident was the first time she knew of a dispatcher being injured by a power surge.
Since then, she has researched the issue and discovered accounts of similar injuries around the nation.
According to the website lightning-protection-institute.com, the phenomenon is known as ground potential rise or GPR. Voltage can develop in a grounding system when electrical current, from lightning and other sources, flows through the grounding system’s impedance.
“GPR places most telephone and power installations in danger of equipment damage and personnel harm from lightning,” according to the website. “One of the most dangerous locations to personnel” is an E-911 center, it states.
Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.
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