The current status of lightning safety knowledge and the effects of lightning education modes on college students

Lightning is a natural hazard occurring frequently within the United States causing injury, damage, and death. To avoid this hazard, citizens need to self-mitigate their risk by taking action. The level of lightning safety knowledge must be known to determine if citizens have the tools to mitigate t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Natural hazards (Dordrecht) 2014, Vol.70 (2), p.1231-1245
Main Authors: Phillips, Melissa C. K., Schmidlin, Thomas W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Civil Engineering
College students
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Education
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Environmental Management
Exact sciences and technology
Geophysics/Geodesy
Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences
Hydrogeology
Knowledge
Lightning
Natural Hazards
Natural hazards: prediction, damages, etc
Original Paper
Safety
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Summary:Lightning is a natural hazard occurring frequently within the United States causing injury, damage, and death. To avoid this hazard, citizens need to self-mitigate their risk by taking action. The level of lightning safety knowledge must be known to determine if citizens have the tools to mitigate their risk. No studies have previously explored the status of lightning safety knowledge or the best way to educate about lightning safety. Therefore, the research community is unaware if citizens understand their risk and have the knowledge to mitigate their risk, or if current safety programs are effectively educating citizens. This study distributed two surveys to college students in Florida, Ohio, and Colorado. Following the pre-mode survey, students were shown videos, given brochures, or both with lightning safety information. A follow-up survey was then distributed. Participants were found to have a moderate level of lightning safety knowledge. Study areas of variable risk as well as past death rates were not found to affect the rate of knowledge. The presence of education programs were not affected by the variable risk. Misunderstood areas of lightning safety knowledge were associated mostly with the lightning and thunder relationship as well as safety before and after a thunderstorm. The education modes involving a video were the most effective at increasing knowledge. Gender displayed minor differences in gaining of lightning safety knowledge.
ISSN:0921-030X
1573-0840
DOI:10.1007/s11069-013-0873-x