Seeking refuge in houses, schools or office buildings, unplugging computers and avoiding open fields during thunderstorms can help reduce the number of injuries and deaths caused by lightning during the summer months.

Lightning causes more injuries in the US each year than any other storm-related phenomenon, other than floods. Although the vast majority of victims survive, many are left with severe injuries including burns, fractures and cataracts.

If you can hear thunder or see lightning, you are at risk. Lightning injury is an individual's personal responsibility.

To remain safe when a summer storm blows in:

• Remain in large structures with plumbing and electrical wiring
• Seeking shelter in fully enclosed metal vehicles and rolling up windows to avoid contact with metal or conducting surfaces on the outside of the vehicle
• Avoid tall structures or landscape features such as mountains, isolated trees, towers and flagpoles
• Avoid open fields such as golf courses, parks or playgrounds, and staying away from open structures such as gazebos, baseball dugouts and golf carts
• Steer clear of conductive materials such as computers, fences, hard-wired telephones, metal windows and door frames and
• Stay out of water.

Annals of Emergency Medicine June 2002;39:665-670