Is it acceptable to use a handrail to interconnect a lightening protection system

It is normal to bond  roof edge rails like that to a lightning system. Less wise to use them as the primary current path!! There should be a no-one on the roof policy in a thunderstorm on a roof like this.
I'm not too sure what is in the pics, are we seeing the copper ribbons that are interlinks between stuff on the roof or going down to electrodes, or is that section of hand rail the only thing in series between a higher roof top element  and the earth below ? The latter would have me tutting and wondering about the joints in the rails. Chimney, like any antennas and masts, I'd expect to be solidly connected- even if it was via the hand rails.

Folk like Dehn and Furse do good tutorial application notes ,but without knowing what you do or don't already know it is not easy to recommend. There is the BS of course, but the standards are not written in a tutorial way.
https://new.abb.com/low-voltage/products/earthing-lightning-protection/furse/literature

https://www.dehn-international.com/sites/default/files/media/files/lpg-2015-e-complete.pdf

Mike.

Hi Mike 

Thank you for your response, there was another section of building on the roof you can see which was the lift and ventilation rooms. 

So they are using the rail to interconnect the drop from the aerial to the rail then from the rail down to the rod. Each connection at the rail drops down to the rod. So they have used the rail to interconnect all the rods to form a sort of mesh format.

Appreciate its hard to give a yes or no if its ok or not. I think it warrants further investigation, do you agree?

Thank you for the links I have seen the first one but not the second one.

Hi Mike 

Thank you for your response, there was another section of building on the roof you can see which was the lift and ventilation rooms. 

So they are using the rail to interconnect the drop from the aerial to the rail then from the rail down to the rod. Each connection at the rail drops down to the rod. So they have used the rail to interconnect all the rods to form a sort of mesh format.

Appreciate its hard to give a yes or no if its ok or not. I think it warrants further investigation, do you agree?

Thank you for the links I have seen the first one but not the second one.

It does not sound ideal, but as you say we cannot see it from here. Personally I don't think it is especially dangerous, so long as all the connections are solid, and no-one goes on the roof in thunderstorms and the rail is not connected to other things -or if it is, then  to ensure it cannot pass high a high voltage into the building by some other metallic connection such as to building steel.

It is also worth asking what the antennas connect to, and what would happen if those coax cables shot up by a few hundred kV for a little while...

I presume the system is inspected periodically for insurance reasons.  I suggest, that the next time this occurs, you ask the person doing the inspection for a professional opinion  when it is in front of him/her.

Mike.