Severe Weather at worksites

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mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
muskiedog said:
Here in Minnesota we had our drill today. Do any of electricians have a plan on where to go at each job site. Just curious.
Go for what? You're talking about tornadoes or something along those lines?
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
muskiedog said:
Yes, do you have a plan or is just P.A.S.S.
panic and start screaming
This must be a geographic thing, because I've never ever heard of such a plan on any jobsite I've ever been on.
 

bphgravity

Senior Member
Location
Florida
One of the nice things about working for a municipality is all the education and training you receive for emergency management and disaster response.

In our city, we have a plan for nearly every conceivable disaster, emergency, and threat to public safety. It works much like a hospital code system. In the event of an emergency, a code is given over the municipal alert system. This is a combination of phone calls, radio alerts, and intercom alerts. Each person has a responsibility to perform in the event of that emergency ranging from something as simple as locking a door to serving as a first responder to the scene of the emergency.
 

Tori

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
Yes, on every job the company works on the is a meet area designation away from the job so the men can be counted and accounted for

This is paramount to a safety concious company

If the building collapses you need to be able to tell the emergency crews there is a man/men still inside

Go Home ??? your kidding right ??
 

dlhoule

Senior Member
Location
Michigan
Who decides when weather is too inclement? The temperature is 14 degrees below zero with a wind chill factor making it feel like 40 below, but no snow. Now it is okay to continue working but if it is snowing it isn't? Who gets to decide?:grin:
 

Rockyd

Senior Member
Location
Nevada
Occupation
Retired after 40 years as an electrician.
Pipeline projects back in Alaska, we always have a plan where to meet, course there it is about risk factor involving the element your dealing with.

I've seen it, where we had to leave for one site, and go to another to finish a day because of bears.

What else would you do if the weather is too inclement to continue working?

On the North Slope (Prudhoe Bay, Alaska) that is at about -40 below, and a 40 mile an hour cross wind. Course there are two people per rig, radios, and cell phones, on board.

Here in the desert, I've seen the 10" rain plan,,,draw a ten inch circle, if a drop of rain hits in it, call the job for the day (we have 331 days of sunshine).

Critical thinking will increase proportionally as the amount of risk surrounding a job rises.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
dlhoule said:
Who decides when weather is too inclement? The temperature is 14 degrees below zero with a wind chill factor making it feel like 40 below, but no snow. Now it is okay to continue working but if it is snowing it isn't? Who gets to decide?:grin:

I don't know, but my guess is that if it is 14 below zero, no one is doing much useful work directly out in the cold. I bet they are putting up plastic sheeting and firing up propane heaters to warm up the areas they are working in.
 

hillbilly

Senior Member
dlhoule said:
Who decides when weather is too inclement? The temperature is 14 degrees below zero with a wind chill factor making it feel like 40 below, but no snow. Now it is okay to continue working but if it is snowing it isn't? Who gets to decide?:grin:

Luckily for me....I do.
Although I've only seen 14 below a few times in my life.

I do live in a tornado prone area though, and I always pick out a spot to go hide if a really bad lightning or wind storm comes up.
Usually the basement or crawlspace.
If it starts hailing (usually arrives before a tornado), I go hide and let it pass.

steve
 

starbright28

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
I remember working on houses during some good storms. It tends to get too bad outside - for thunderstorms, the power tools dont get used and everyone takes shelter inside. But there was no plan ever.

I guess in regards to sever weather with tornadoes - the big stuff, it hasn't happened on any job that I worked on that we did something. I'm sure our instinct would have kicked in to take shelter if it was going to hit us, or if it was in the distance - watch the darn thing.

as far as the cold cold weather - where pulling wire sometimes isn't the greatest thing to do, well sometimes I have pulled wire in the cold. But if the job is mostly outside and not much inside work to do, the job is postponed. Also - if the roads are terrible to travel on, some days we didn't work. (snow/ice).

With MN the weather can change within an hour, so basicaly we adapt to most anything.
 

dlhoule

Senior Member
Location
Michigan
Amanda said:
With MN the weather can change within an hour, so basicaly we adapt to most anything.

The weather can change drastically in an hour anywhere in the country. Now I have heard of one wedding in MN where the men went in their regular suits and women in their formal evening gowns. No coats or anything. When the reception was supposed to end they had enough snow to prevent them from leaving and they spent 2 miserable days in the small rental hall.

As far as working conditions; for the last 20 or so years, I have been the one to determine when conditions merit not working. If someone is concerned for their family elsewhere, they are free to leave. If weather looks threatening enough; I'll get people to as safe a place as possible.

Cold and wind do not necessarily make for unsafe conditions. Just miserable to work in the cold at times.:)
 

muskiedog

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
cold weather not severe. Blizzard yes.

cold weather not severe. Blizzard yes.

I guess growing up in Minnesota I never thought of the cold as a reason to stop working. Just put on another layer. Now a days though you think is was the end of the world by how the news reports it (Sky is falling syndrome).

I have seen three tornados but wasn't close enough to take cover. A lot of damage though. Last year one came through and landed about 4 miles as the crow flies past the house. So much debris, say a trapalin in a tree about 40 feet up and wasn't a home in sight.

Thanks for the responses.
 
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