Usual structures to be protected:

  • Residential premises
  • Farms, agricultural and horticultural enterprises
  • Cinemas, theaters, opera houses, discotheques, concert halls, hotels, schools, stores, sports facilities
  • Banks, insurance companies, shopping centers, department stores, exhibition halls
  • Hospitals, nursing homes, nurseries, prisons, barracks
  • Industrial buildings
  • Museums and archaeological sites
  • Churches, water towers, chimney silos, buildings
  • Communication infrastructures (antennas, radars, control towers, etc.)
  • Power plants
  • Fireworks factories, ammunition factories, chemical factories, buildings at risk of explosion
  • Refineries, nuclear sites
  • Biochemical sites and laboratories
  • SMEs, data centers
  • Service sector, wastewater treatment plants
  • Wind turbines, airports, windmills
  • Sports halls, public swimming pools, stadiums, railway stations, public buildings
  • Police stations, fire departments, ambulance services
  • etc.

What you need to know

Our physicists investigate the most suitable lightning protection method for you. They then link their findings to the appropriate construction and installation techniques.
Lightning striking a structure can cause damage to the structure, its occupants and their property, including equipment failure, particularly to internal networks.

Lightning strikes:

  • directly on your building's structure ;
  • the ground near the structure;
  • services connected to the structure;
  • the ground near services connected to the structure.

Can cause:

  • physical damage to the structure (fire, explosion, mechanical destruction, chemical fumes, dangerous sparks) due to lightning current ;
  • injury to living beings due to contact and step voltages (electric shock);
  • internal network failures (electrical and electronic) due to the electromagnetic effects of lightning;
  • perforation of electrical installations, fire and property damage;
  • failure of electrical and electronic equipment and networks (e.g. televisions, computers, modems, telephones, etc.);
  • secondary risk due to loss of power and risk of death for people or livestock;
  • production losses ;
  • irreplaceable loss of cultural heritage;
  • unacceptable loss of public services;
  • consequences of fire and explosion for the site and its environment.

Lightning protection systems should be designed and installed by specialist designers and installers. A lightning protection specialist is a person who, on the basis of his or her training, knowledge and experience, and mastery of the application of lightning protection standards, is capable of designing, building and/or inspecting a lightning protection system. The concepts of design, implementation and/or inspection require knowledge in various fields.

Vinçotte specialists can help you protect yourself against lightning strikes:

  • by carrying out a lightning risk analysis in accordance with the new NBN EN 62305- 2 standard;
  • carrying out pre-use checks on the structure's external and internal protection, in accordance with the new NBN EN standard
  • by carrying out periodic lightning protection inspections in accordance with the old NBN C 18-100 standard or the new NBN EN 62305 standard.

Advantages

Vinçotte provides you with lightning protection specialists. They have a sound knowledge of the physical phenomena involved, as well as of the application of the various design and standard calculation methods, and the installation requirements for the various components of a lightning and overvoltage protection system, and are familiar with construction and installation techniques.