• Plan ahead. Always check the weather forecast before outdoor activities and know where you can quickly find safe cover.
• Take cover in a metal-topped vehicle if it's not possible to go inside a building, but don't touch any metal parts of the vehicle during a lightning storm.
• Avoid unsafe locations: open sheds, tents, open boats, convertibles, temporary shelters, open areas like golf courses, athletic fields, and tennis courts; lakes swimming pools, seashore; isolated trees; high ground; open windows or roof tops; places near wire fences, clotheslines, overhead wires, or railroad tracks.
• Avoid using electrical appliances, telephones (unless it's an emergency), or plumbing fixtures such as showerheads and faucets.
• Stay under cover until the danger passes. Lightning can strike even if there's no rain.
• Remember, if you hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

Would you like to know what to do if lightning was about to strike? Test your knowledge and take the lightning quiz on the CPCU Society's web site. Visit www.cpcusociety.org and go to the Consumer Information Center, then click on the Consumer Topic of the Month icon.

The CPCU Society is a community of credentialed insurance professionals who promote excellence through ethical behavior and continuing education. The Society's more than 28,000 members hold the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU®) designation, which requires passing rigorous undergraduate and graduate level examinations, meeting experience requirements, and agreeing to be bound by a strict code of professional ethics. The CPCU designation is conferred by the American Institute for CPCU.