The need for standardization of human tolerability levels for lightning currents and voltages

This paper deals with the problem of establishing limits of lightning currents and voltages tolerable to human beings. A numerical computation taking into account a representative model of the human body in contact with a lightning surge associated to a grounding system was performed considering different types of soil. The step and touch potential were evaluated in order to estimate the current and energy generated on the heart that can lead to a harmful condition in terms of ventricular fibrillation of the heart.