ABSTRACT
The analysis of past accident databases indicates that lightning events are a frequent cause for technological accidents in chemical and process plants. Lightning may cause damage to plants and may trigger releases of a great amount of hazardous substances, their dispersion in the ground, as well as fires and explosions. Furthermore the risk of lightning is likely to increase in the whole world because of climate change, with predictions for an increase in heavy storms and associated lightning events in the future (Balluz et al. 2003).
