Don’t let the weather drive long-term troubles to your construction area. Being equipped indicates having your equipment and employees ready for anything, from a rash rainstorm to freezing weather. These weather changes are especially regular in the USA. Organizing your construction zone will reduce uncertainties and prevent worker injury. Construction site climate safety considers aspects outside the zone, as well as safety requirements inside the job area.
Importance of Weather Awareness
Equipping your construction place for severe weather starts with understanding. Make it a routine to regularly check both short- and long-range predictions for your location. You can take some preventative measures before a hurricane strikes. These last-minute jobsite practices can prevent damage to your machinery and loss of productivity. Construction safety in harsh weather can mean the difference between life and death for your workers.
Types of Extreme Weather
Extreme weather takes many formations, and in the USA, it can strike at any time of year. A few of them are more predictable than others by following predictions, but some of these situations can create risky concerns with little news. Always be ready for hurried weather shifts that could require a quick response to organize your construction zone for extreme weather.
Snow: Fortunately, you can generally plan for snowstorms. And you will require this planning time to ready your machinery. Snow and ice can get into the parts of your heavy equipment, stopping air flow or generating elements to freeze. Also, if you forget to save your machinery, you may find yourself having to dig out your machinery after an extreme snowfall.
Flooding: Flooding can happen unexpectedly from flash floods or gradually from extreme rains. Because flooding can happen all year, always be prepared with a plan to fast move your employees and equipment to higher land, especially if your site is near a body of water.
High winds: High breezes can occur without caution. Occasionally, heavy breezes result from windstorms, but sometimes they happen without attending other weather phenomena. Without defense, high currents can topple barriers or heavy equipment.
Cold temperatures: Cold weather does more harm than you might believe. Freezing weather severely impacts diesel engines. The freezing makes oil move sluggishly and engines work harder. You’ll need to winterize your equipment if you plan to continue processes through the chill.
Hurricanes: Typhoons, thankfully, don’t impact the Northeast as much as they do other parts of the country, but because these tropical hurricanes are so occasional, many do not know what to do to qualify for them. Always have a strategy in place to organize your construction site for a hurricane. Storm channels can change unexpectedly, and you should be ready to save your job site if a storm is anywhere in the Atlantic.
Thunderstorms: Thunderstorms bring lightning, high breezes, and serious rains — all situations that can make operating on a construction site difficult for your workers. And storms are not just a summer marvel. They can happen at any time of year. Take measures to prepare your construction zone for a cyclone.
Hot weather: Hot weather can cause heat sicknesses in employees. Due to the warmth output of the equipment and the rugged nature of construction work, warmth affects construction teams more easily than office employees. Sudden heat surges that do not let your employees adjust to the hot climate are especially risky.
Understanding the types of construction site extreme weather you may experience is just the first stage toward organizing your job site. You’ll also be required to know when the construction safety hazards are most elevated for certain types of climate. Seasonal weather threats can help you plan when reaching your site ready for the details.
Because specific weather circumstances only occur during a few months of the year, you can organize some things in your construction zone to prepare your equipment and workers for these.