Resources

IEC 62305, explained in plain English

Guides to the lightning protection standard, the risk method behind every assessment, and how Lumex turns it into a report you can defend.

Guide

What is IEC 62305?

The international lightning protection standard, its four parts, who needs it, and what the 2024 third edition changed.
System

What is a lightning protection system?

The complete LPS: its external and internal parts, the components, the four LPS classes, and how IEC 62305 specifies one from risk.
Method

The IEC 62305-2 risk method

How the risk of loss of human life R and the frequency of damage F, and the eight risk components, are computed and compared against the tolerable values.
Worked example

How an IEC 62305 risk is calculated

A plain-English worked walkthrough of one risk calculation, from the inputs to the pass or fail verdict, on an example building.
Concept

Lightning protection levels (LPL I-IV)

What LPL I to IV mean, how the risk assessment decides the level, and how it maps to the LPS class.
Method

Air-termination methods

The rolling sphere, mesh and protection angle methods for positioning lightning air terminations under IEC 62305-3.
Tool

Rolling sphere calculator

A free calculator that estimates the protected ground radius of a single vertical mast using rolling sphere geometry.
Concept

Lightning protection zones (LPZ)

How IEC 62305 zones step the threat down from outside to equipment, plus the separation distance and bonding.
Method

Earthing & the earth termination

How the earth-termination system dissipates a strike, its Type A and Type B electrodes, and why earthing is inspected.
Update

What changed in IEC 62305:2024

What the 2024 third edition changed versus the 2010 method, and why those changes can flip a pass into a fail.
Inspection

IEC 62305-3 inspection & testing

The periodic LPS inspection for the maintenance cycle: what is checked, how often, and what the report records.
Method

SPD Types 1, 2 and 3 explained

Surge protective devices under IEC 62305: the lightning protection zones, coordinated protection, and how SPDs cut internal-failure risk.
Standards

ESE air terminals and IEC 62305

IEC 62305 specifies conventional air terminations, not ESE devices; the ESE method lives in NF C 17-102, a separate national standard.
Principle

Traceable, not AI-generated

Why IEC 62305 risk figures must be calculated and traceable to their inputs, never produced by a language model.
Guide

Audit-ready risk reports

What an auditor, insurer or authority actually needs to see in an IEC 62305 risk assessment report.
Global

IEC 62305 around the world

How IEC 62305 is adopted as a national standard, often word for word, across most of the world, and where the US differs.
Sector

Risk assessment for data centres

Why data centres are an extreme IEC 62305 case where continuity of service, not the building, drives the risk.
Sector

Risk assessment for hospitals

Why hospitals carry exceptional life-safety risk under IEC 62305 and how a healthcare campus is modelled.
Sector

Lightning protection for telecom

Why telecom towers are struck so often, and how IEC 62305 protects the electronics that keep a network on the air.
Sector

Protection for heritage buildings

Why irreplaceable historic buildings need IEC 62305 protection, and how to fit it without harming the fabric.
Sector

Oil, gas & hazardous sites

Why a flammable atmosphere makes lightning a high-consequence threat, and how IEC 62305 controls it.
Sector

Risk assessment for renewable energy

Why solar farms, wind sites and substations need an IEC 62305 assessment, and what makes them different to model.
Compare

NFPA 780 vs IEC 62305

The two main lightning standards side by side: where each applies, how the risk methods differ, and which to use.

Want to see the method run end to end? Read how an IEC 62305 assessment works, clause by clause.

Get started today

Run a real IEC 62305 assessment,
in minutes not days

Contact our team