African Design Magazine ADM #36 December 2017 | Page 35

SAFEGUARDING
GOLF
COURSES
Lightning strikes are estimated to cause over 500 deaths per year in
South Africa alone, and golfers across the continent are vulnerable to
lightning exposure while golng in an open eld.
Golf courses usually extend over large areas and include facilities such as clubhouses,
caddy sheds, change rooms, halfway houses, shelters, golf cart parking lots and
widespread irrigation and sprinkler systems that ensure the quality of the greens.
It is therefore advisable by DEHN Africa for these facilities to have effective lightning
protection measures in place.
ACCESSING POSSIBLE LIGHTNING THREATS
The first step to achieving this is an assessment of the potential risk resulting from a
lightning strike and based on these risk analysis as per SANS (South African National
Standard) 62305-2 to plan protection measures. These should include a combination
of external lightning protection and lightning equipotential bonding for all service
lines entering and leaving a building or property, such as metal gas, water pipes and
power supply feeder and control lines.
The following summarised points encompass the various protection measures
required for the different facilities of a golf course:
Ÿ Protection for shelters
Shelters should not be installed at exposed locations such as on hills, and at the edge
of a forest beneath isolated trees.