Grounded in Safety – Details, episodes & analysis

Storms don’t negotiate, and neither should your safety strategy. We’re kicking off Grounded in Safety by getting practical about lightning protection: how strikes really travel, where myths mislead decisions and why the newest BS EN IEC 62305 standard changes how we think about risk, fire and system uptime. With our guest Matt Waldram, a technical and compliance leader involved in national and international standards, we break down the essentials in plain language and share examples that stick.

We explore the evolution from older British guidance to the international IEC framework, then unpack the 2024 risk methodology that unifies human safety, fire risk and system availability. You’ll hear how external protection captures and routes energy to ground, while internal co-ordination of surge protection devices shields critical equipment and prevents dangerous flashover. From granite-heavy ground that spreads energy laterally to cables that ferry overvoltages deep into buildings, we map out the hidden paths lightning takes and the layered defences that actually work.

Real-world stories drive the point home: distilleries with flammable vapours, defence sites needing isolated mast and catenary systems, and residential blocks where a single flashover can start a fire. 

We also dig into competency and the Building Safety Act: what good looks like in design, inspection and maintenance and why owners are re-running assessments with the latest process to expose blind spots. The payoff is clarity: a practical checklist for reassessment, a smarter view of cost versus consequence and a plan to keep people safe and operations resilient.

If you care about safety, business continuity or insurance readiness, this conversation will sharpen your decisions. Subscribe for more grounded guidance, share this episode with a colleague and leave a review to tell us what you want us to tackle next.

Next Episode Preview: 

Tim Lee will discuss changes to BS 7883:2019 for height safety compliance.

Watch on YouTube.

Thank you for listening to Omega Red's podcast. All information was accurate at the time of recording. 

Omega Red is a UK market leader in lightning protection, height safety, earthing and surge protection.

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Falls from height remain the leading cause of workplace fatalities in the UK. Latest figures from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) show that 35 people lost their lives at work due to a fall from height in 2024/25. 

In this special No Falls Week episode, host Nick Marshall is joined by No Falls Foundation Trustee, Kelly Nicoll to explore why falls from height still happen in the workplace, how safety culture must evolve and the role of No Falls Week in driving industry change. 

Expect to hear more about: 

• The origin of the No Falls Foundation 
• How reduced investigation affects prevention and learning 
• Why falls still happen despite regulation, training and equipment 
• Which sectors face the highest risk 
• The power of personal stories in humanising the issue and changing behaviour 
• How organisations can support No Falls Week 

Watch on YouTube.

Thank you for listening to Omega Red's podcast. All information was accurate at the time of recording. 

Omega Red is a UK market leader in lightning protection, height safety, earthing and surge protection.

Visit our website

Follow us on LinkedIn

Final part of our No Falls Week miniseries 'Changing the culture around work at height'. 

Falls from height remain the leading cause of workplace fatalities in the UK. Latest figures from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) show that 35 people lost their lives at work due to a fall from height in 2024/25. 

In this special No Falls Week episode, host Nick Marshall is joined by No Falls Foundation Trustee, Kelly Nicoll to explore why falls from height still happen in the workplace, how safety culture must evolve and the role of No Falls Week in driving industry change. 

Expect to hear more about: 

• The origin of the No Falls Foundation
• How reduced investigation affects prevention and learning 
• Why falls still happen despite regulation, training and equipment 
• Which sectors face the highest risk 
• The power of personal stories in humanising the issue and changing behaviour 
• How organisations can support No Falls Week

Thank you for watching or listening, we’ll see you in next month’s podcast!

Watch on YouTube.

Thank you for listening to Omega Red's podcast. All information was accurate at the time of recording. 

Omega Red is a UK market leader in lightning protection, height safety, earthing and surge protection.

Visit our website

Follow us on LinkedIn

Part two of our No Falls Week miniseries 'Changing the culture around work at height'. 

Falls from height remain the leading cause of workplace fatalities in the UK. Latest figures from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) show that 35 people lost their lives at work due to a fall from height in 2024/25. 

In this special No Falls Week episode, host Nick Marshall is joined by No Falls Foundation Trustee, Kelly Nicoll to explore why falls from height still happen in the workplace, how safety culture must evolve and the role of No Falls Week in driving industry change. 

Expect to hear more about: 

• The origin of the No Falls Foundation 
• How reduced investigation affects prevention and learning 
• Why falls still happen despite regulation, training and equipment 
• Which sectors face the highest risk 
• The power of personal stories in humanising the issue and changing behaviour 
• How organisations can support No Falls Week 

Watch on YouTube.

Thank you for listening to Omega Red's podcast. All information was accurate at the time of recording. 

Omega Red is a UK market leader in lightning protection, height safety, earthing and surge protection.

Visit our website

Follow us on LinkedIn

Part one of our No Falls Week miniseries 'Changing the culture around work at height'.

Falls from height remain the leading cause of workplace fatalities in the UK. Latest figures from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) show that 35 people lost their lives at work due to a fall from height in 2024/25. 

In this special No Falls Week episode, host Nick Marshall is joined by No Falls Foundation Trustee, Kelly Nicoll to explore why falls from height still happen in the workplace, how safety culture must evolve and the role of No Falls Week in driving industry change. 

Expect to hear more about: 

• The origin of the No Falls Foundation 
• How reduced investigation affects prevention and learning 
• Why falls still happen despite regulation, training and equipment 
• Which sectors face the highest risk 
• The power of personal stories in humanising the issue and changing behaviour 
• How organisations can support No Falls Week 

Watch on YouTube.

Thank you for listening to Omega Red's podcast. All information was accurate at the time of recording. 

Omega Red is a UK market leader in lightning protection, height safety, earthing and surge protection.

Visit our website

Follow us on LinkedIn

Power earthing lays the foundation for a compliant and comprehensive electrical safety system. In this episode, Omega Red’s Dave Willets joins host Nick Marshall to unpack why earthing matters, reveal the hidden hazards that often go unnoticed, and break down the key components that make an earthing system truly effective. 

This includes: 

• Engineering fundamentals and risk factors of power earthing 
• Key safety functions of power earthing 
• Importance of managing fault currents 
• Core risks that earthing design must mitigate 
• Earth Potential Rise (EPR), touch potential, step potential and transfer potential 
• Earthing design for large contracts and key inputs 
• Shift from resistance-based design to voltage-based safety criteria 
• Factors for successful system execution and set-up 
• Commonly overlooked areas in power earthing and why projects often go wrong 

Thank you for watching or listening, we’ll see you in next month’s podcast! 

Watch on YouTube.

Thank you for listening to Omega Red's podcast. All information was accurate at the time of recording. 

Omega Red is a UK market leader in lightning protection, height safety, earthing and surge protection.

Visit our website

Follow us on LinkedIn

Thirsty for more Grounded in Safety podcast content? Episode three will soon be with you... but for now, we're sharing a sneak peek! 

Host, Nick, is joined by Dave Willetts, Special Projects Manager, as they discuss the safety foundation of power earthing. 

Here’s what you can expect from episode three: 

⚡ Get to grips with the importance of managing fault currents 

⚠️ Learn to spot hidden hazards of touch, step and transfer potentials 

🔍 Identify commonly overlooked areas and pitfalls in power earthing 

Episode three, The Safety Foundation | Power Earthing, is due out in April.

Watch on YouTube.

Thank you for listening to Omega Red's podcast. All information was accurate at the time of recording. 

Omega Red is a UK market leader in lightning protection, height safety, earthing and surge protection.

Visit our website

Follow us on LinkedIn

We trace the shift from improvised rooftop systems to rigorous, evidence-led height safety with BS 7883:2019 and BS 8681. In this episode, Omega Red's Tim Lee chats to host Nick Marshall and explains how to spot real competence, what good documentation looks like and why restraint and collective protection should lead design choices.

This includes:

• Evolution from 1997 anchors to system-based design
• Why restraint beats fall arrest for routine tasks
• Addressing fragile skylights and pendulum risks
• Technology shifts: load-limiting posts and membranes
• 2019 changes: named designer and documentation
• Retrospective compliance and uncovering hidden fixings
• Competence under BS 8681 and manufacturer approvals
• What good looks like in reports and technical files
• Rooftop strategy with PV arrays and edge protection
• Client due diligence and accountability across the supply chain

Thank you for watching or listening, we’ll see you in next month’s podcast!

Watch on YouTube.

Thank you for listening to Omega Red's podcast. All information was accurate at the time of recording. 

Omega Red is a UK market leader in lightning protection, height safety, earthing and surge protection.

Visit our website

Follow us on LinkedIn