Virgin Airlines and Aerocare have improved safety measures after ground crew members were injured following a lightning strike at Perth Airport, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has said.

In the incident on November 26, 2014, the tail of a Virgin Australia Airbus was struck by lightning while it was on the ground.

Electrical discharge passed through the headset of a ramp supervisor, causing him to lose consciousness.

Another ground crew member suffered a burn injury, but remained conscious.

The Virgin Airbus had arrived in Perth from Sydney.

The ATSB said that before landing, the captain had reported small storm cells and lightning activity north of the airport.

After the plane landed, it was ordered to stay on the runway by air traffic control because its bay was occupied.

Half an hour later, the airport movement coordinator told the ramp supervisor that Virgin's operations controller in Brisbane had made contact, asking why duties on the ramp had not started.

The supervisor was also told that Virgin's meteorological officer had advised there had not been any lightning activity for half an hour.

However, the supervisor said lightning could still be seen in the sky.

After another series of calls, the ramp supervisor decided to resume work and connected a headset to the intercom jack at the nose landing gear.

Lightning hit the plane's tail, and as the ramp supervisor pushed the talk button he suffered an electric shock.

He fell to the ground unconscious and a second crew member was also injured.

Both men were taken to hospital. One was released the following day and the supervisor was released several days later.

There was no damage to the plane.

Incident triggers changes to airport processes

The ATSB said the incident showed that perceived or even actual operational requirements should not be allowed to compromise safety, and local observations should be an integral part of decision making.

The bureau found that the airport's lightning detection system was working within specifications but did not show ground strikes leading up to when the lighting hit the plane.

It said that on the day of the incident, "perceived operational pressure", advice about the weather and an apparent decrease in storm activity influenced the ramp supervisor's decision to restart ramp duties.

Since the event, Perth Airport has installed a thunderstorm warning system to provide audible and visual alerts when it was not safe to be on the ramp.

Aerocare has made changes to its severe weather procedures, including the ceasing of aircraft-connected headsets when lightning is within 19 kilometres of an airport.

Virgin Airlines has provided airport movement coordinators with extra training in weather and flight planning and started using wireless headsets at some airports.