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Earthing Conference Including Surge & Lightning Protection – Birmingham, UK – 2025
Safearth will present three technical papers at the upcoming Earthing Conference in Birmingham, UK on the 21st & 22nd May 2025. Thanks to IDC Technologies for hosting.
Our speakers and their technical topics include:
Designing, Testing and Investigating Earthing Systems: What you need to know!
Stephen Palmer: CEO & Managing Director, Safearth
Standards and regulations tell us ‘what’ we need to achieve, and sometimes key steps in ‘how’ we need to achieve them. As Simon Sinek has famously promoted, starting with ‘why’ a powerful mindset toward is finding what might otherwise be hidden. We must, however, identify the hidden, neglected or misunderstood earthing issues if we wish to optimise the systems. This optimisation includes design, installation, residual risk, safety and cost. It should also consider supervision, maintenance, refurbishment, retirement, and eventually, the removal of the system. It is agreed that the above list of optimising steps can seem like a lot, and perhaps more effort than is commonly applied, but what if it’s not too much effort? What if we start with why, consistently apply the correct understanding and the most effective methods, and do it often enough to achieve efficiency and make that list normal? Time will tell. This presentation will cover earthing works, where current flows and why, how we can and can’t change that, what that means regarding safety outcomes, and how earthing should be best managed. The session will look at common shortcuts in earthing and identify which myths are gold and which are not.
Continuity Testing – Not as easy as 1,2,3!
Rowan McMurray: Principal Engineer, Safearth UK & Europe
Continuity or integrity testing is a commonly applied testing method for determining the condition of earthing grids and earthing systems. At its most basic level it is a simple, low-cost test that provides a simple verification, but it has potential to bring much greater value. It is now recognised best practice for validation that everything that should be bonded together is bonded together, and that items that should be separated are in fact separated. There are however many approaches to how continuity is measured and how that measurement is interpreted and applied to asset management decisions. Choosing methods is an important decision with significant implications for the asset lifecycle. This presentation will review the development of various electrical approaches to measuring continuity and how some common instruments have applied those methods. The strengths and weaknesses of variations, including AC versus DC sources, low versus high current, two versus four wire measurements and continuous versus pulsed or reversed signals, will be presented and discussed. It will then consider the three levels of continuity testing commonly used and the different approaches within those levels, including joint, segment and site testing and how the measured values can be assessed for adequacy or insight into the true condition.
How do I know if a distribution system earthing installation complies with tolerable touch voltage standards?
Bill Carman: Principal Consultant, Safearth UK & Europe
Brett Duncan: Director (Electrical Engineer), BJD Consulting Engineers
Distribution substation earthing systems are expected to have a low cost of design and low installation cost. They usually rely upon interconnection with upstream HV cables or interconnection with or separation from the surrounding LV network to control potentials transferred onto the LV neutral network. The expectation of low design and installation costs is contrasted by how significant the cost can be in the event of poor safety performance of these systems. Simplified approaches are attractive and appropriate in certain circumstances but can lead to undesirable costs and residual risk outcomes. Using an 11kV private network as a case study, this presentation will examine the design process and the use of selective testing to reduce uncertainty in design input parameters and confirm the presence of a global earthing system. This comprehensive program covers everything from distribution to generation and lightning protection, offering in-depth technical insights, regulatory updates, and real-world case studies.
WORKSHOP – Exploring Soil Resistivity Testing & Modelling
It will be hands-on for calculations and modelling
Stephen Palmer: CEO & MD, Safearth
with co-hosts Dr. Bill Carman & Rowan McMurray
The most critical measure for estimating how isolated earth grids will perform is the electrical performance of the soil where it will be buried. This presentation will recap how soil creates grid resistance and surface potentials, and how the electrical characteristics can be measured or estimated. It will consider
the changes in those characteristics over seasons or time. The session will also share how to build an electrical model for soils from test data, and how to avoid the most common pitfalls.
This practical workshop is suitable for relative novices but offers perspectives and insights that perhaps even the most experienced can learn from. It will be hands-on for calculations and modelling, and participants are asked to bring their laptops and most challenging soil-related experiences for discussion.
Click here to view the CONFERENCE BROCHURE
For more information or to register visit the IDC EVENTS PAGE