General Liability:
When Lightning Strikes
Protecting all things electronic in the event of a natural or man-made disaster
by: Jim Echard, Princeton Insurance Healthcare Risk Consultant
Printable Version of this Article
Lightning, on average, strikes the earth 100 times a second. Here in the United States, approximately 100,000 thunderstorms form each storm season. This is not good news for all of us living in the electronic age. Lightning and computers are like oil and water; they don’t mix.
Enemies of your power supply
Most of us think that lightning is the biggest threat to our electronic property. There are actually a variety of occurrences that can adversely affect power supplies. Other natural causes, for example, include heavy rains and winds, snow, ice, decayed tree limbs, and extreme warm weather. Animals, especially squirrels, have been known to chew through wiring. There are human-incurred causes: people sometimes dig up power lines by mistake, drive their vehicles into electric poles, and send kites and metallic balloons into overhead wires. Your own electrical utility company also can affect your power supply. They must perform routine maintenance to keep the system running at maximum efficiency. Plus there are the occasional unplanned outages due to equipment failures.
Does your office have an elevator, a photocopy machine, a window unit air conditioner, an air compressor, or some other piece of mechanical equipment? Chances are the answer is “yes.” When one of these devices is turned on or begins to operate, a power fluctuation will occur. But internal fluctuations are not the only problem. External fluctuations lurk just outside your office; a car strikes a utility pole, a tree branch on a neighbor’s property is rubbing against a primary wire, a contractor digs in the wrong location, and many more scenarios can result in power fluctuations or a complete black-out. Many times these fluctuations go unnoticed. Maybe you think you saw the light dim but now it appears to be bright. In most circumstances, voltage fluctuations and variances do not affect standard household appliances, but computers, telecommunication systems and other electronics are different. Even small spikes or dips can work to disable these important devices.
Surge protectors: your first line of defense
How do we protect our important electronic equipment and systems? The first line of defense is to use surge protectors. When purchasing a surge protector, remember the old adage, “You get what you pay for.” When purchasing a surge protector, look to see if the surge protector manufacturer offers the following specifications:
- An indicator light
- Be UL 1449 listed
- Protection against lightning strikes
- Some form of insurance coverage for devices plugged into the surge protector
- A R-11 telephone jack if you are using a regular dial-up modem
- A cable connection if you are using a cable modem
Because a computer is linked or networked to other computers, an electrical surge can affect all of them. You will need to protect each computer that shares the same network by purchasing individual surge protectors. Don’t forget about protecting individual components like the telephone system, computer monitor, modems, portable external drives, and speaker system.
Manufacturers warn against plugging the printer into the same surge protector as the computer. Printers typically use more electricity than other parts of the computer system, and when they are used, internal fluctuations may result which can then affect the computer hard drive. This could lead to problems with the hard drive and the potential risk of data failure. Another important point here is the need to back up your data. Can you operate the office without access to your scheduling calendar or billing records? Undoubtedly, data is the lifeblood of your office practice. As such, you must conduct a data back up no less than every other day - daily being the best practice. If you don’t conduct a daily back up, consider how much time and labor will be required to re-enter the data. A good practice is to have the data back up take place just before the office manager shuts off the lights, programs the security systems and locks the doors. Remember too, that the back-up data needs to be kept at the office in a fire-proof safe, and a daily copy should be kept off-site as well. This way, should a disaster strike the office after normal business hours; the loss to your data would be minimal.
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