NFPA 780 Standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems 2007 Edition

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) promulgates over 2000 national codes and standards that are used world-wide for the application of facility and safety concerns. IEEE has representation on several, and among them is NFPA 780. It is among the earliest documents published by NFPA, and its topic linage leads directly back to the investigations undertaken by the noted Engineer Benjamin Franklin. It is intended to provide a solid foundation for providing protection from the stochastic, often capricious natural phenomenon of environmental electrostatic discharges involving tremendous current paths linked between the atmosphere and earth and return. These current paths develop seemingly instantaneous high voltage. The combination of these are a cause of many electrocutions and electrical shocks at locations around the world, and cause a significant monetary loss directly or indirectly from loss of production. Reports on NFPA 780 Technical Committee activities are made to the Standards Coordinating Council (SCC) 18 of IEEE. The following will provide a brief history of the document, a review of the present version, and highlight some of the topics of interest in the 2007 edition.