Guide to Disaster Safety and Preparedness on Construction Sites

Natural disasters, such as tropical storms, hurricanes, and floods, have cost the United States trillions of dollars since 1980 in physical damage, fatalities, and business disruptions.

When a disaster hits a construction site, it can cause significant project delays, destroy valuable equipment, and lead to contract disputes. It also puts workers’ lives at risk and may lead to serious injuries or loss of life. In other words, a natural disaster can devastate a construction business.

Disaster preparedness is crucial for ensuring the safety of construction workers and mitigating financial losses. This step-by-step guide shows you how to effectively prepare your construction site for potential disasters.

Step 1: Perform a Risk Assessment

Before creating a disaster preparedness plan, it’s necessary to conduct a thorough risk assessment to identify potential hazards. This step requires considering everything that could go wrong in an emergency and the consequences of these scenarios.

A risk assessment looks different for every project and is an ongoing process since construction sites are always changing. That said, it should cover the following:

• Assets to account for, including employees, equipment, materials, and technology
• All potential sources of emergencies, including natural disasters and workplace hazards
• Financial and legal consequences of emergency scenarios

Consider using a risk analysis tool, which may come with your project management software, to run a simulation or what-if scenario and assess the potential impact of a disaster on your budget and timeline. Use this information to prioritize high-impact risks in disaster planning.

Step 2: Create an Emergency Action Plan

An emergency action plan (EAP) is a written document that instructs workers on how to act in an emergency such as a natural disaster. A well-organized, comprehensive EAP helps protect workers’ safety, reduce damage to equipment and materials, and promote a quick recovery.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a business must have a written EAP accessible to workers if they have more than 10 employees. Otherwise, an oral EAP suffices.

Regardless of OSHA requirements, it’s essential to have an EAP to minimize damage and delays in an emergency. The following steps will help you create a thorough EAP that exceeds OSHA standards.

Identify Resources and Emergency Contacts

Determine the personnel resources you’ll need to respond to emergencies. List your contacts in your EAP and include their information so employees can find them quickly. Resources may include:

• Local emergency responders
• Project managers, vendors, suppliers, and any other stakeholder

Be sure your EAP also includes where to find on-site resources, such as food and water supplies, fire extinguishers, and first-aid kits.

Establish a Communication System

On-site staff need to know how they’ll communicate with each other in an emergency. Natural disasters can impact power lines and cell towers, so it’s critical to have alternative communication methods, like keeping two-way radios on-site. Ensure your EAP includes where staff can find these devices and how to use them. 

Workers also need to know how to reach external resources. In addition to listing emergency phone numbers in your EAP, make sure they’re placed strategically throughout the construction site. 

Lastly, according to OSHA, an alarm system must be in place to prompt workers to act. Each alarm should represent different hazards, and workers must know what each means. Your EAP can describe what alarms are on-site, what they signify, and how staff should respond.

Define Emergency Procedures and Roles

Employees must know what to do in an emergency before it happens so they can act quickly when it does. The following tips can help you cover your bases:

• Ensure your EAP includes evacuation or shelter-in-place procedures for every hazard you’ve identified.
• Have copies of your EAP at various locations on-site so it’s always within reach.
• Post evacuation maps throughout your site to guide workers to an exit if necessary. 

It’s also best to have a plan for preparing equipment if a storm is on the way. This may include securing and covering machinery or relocating certain pieces before severe weather arrives. These steps can minimize the risk of damage to machinery and further preserve worker safety on construction sites.

Note that you must customize your EAP to your worksite and location. For instance, if your site is located in a hurricane-prone area, make sure you have emergency procedures corresponding to the specific risks associated with that weather event. With that in mind, your EAP must be site-specific.

Here are a few ideas for preparing for specific disaster scenarios:

• Hurricanes: Secure loose materials, equipment, and portable structures. Install a shoring system to protect structures from collapsing.
• Earthquakes: Reinforce structures with temporary shoring or bracing systems and ensure employees practice “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” drills.
• Floods: Move materials and equipment to higher ground. Stock up on sandbags or other temporary barriers to divert flood water from the site.
• Tornadoes: Tie down tools or materials or store them indoors. Anchor heavy equipment and bring down aerial lifts.

Designate Evacuation Routes and Safe Areas

Identifying evacuation routes starts with understanding the site’s layout, exit points, and potential obstructions that could prevent an easy evacuation. Walk around your site and look for pathways that are kept clear and provide the most direct path to an exit — in many cases, the main entrance works well for this purpose. Aim to identify at least two evacuation routes and ensure they are marked with signage pointing to an exit or assembly area. 

Additionally, designate safe areas to protect workers from immediate dangers, like a secure trailer or a finished basement. Ensure all this information is in your EAP’s evacuation procedures.

Step 3: Assign Roles and Train Employees

An EAP is only effective if workers know how to implement it. Part of your disaster preparedness plan must include reviewing the EAP with employees, assigning roles, and training workers accordingly.

First, select employees who will act as leaders and help other workers evacuate. Then, ensure all employees clearly understand their duties and know who will lead them in an emergency. This measure will prevent confusion and increase the chances of each procedure being carried out as planned.

OSHA outlines what an EAP must include related to various employee roles, such as:

• Procedures for contacting emergency responders and ordering evacuations
• Procedures for shutting down utilities and equipment before evacuating
• Guidelines for performing medical duties
• Names and numbers of employees who can provide more information about designated duties
• Steps for ensuring all employees have evacuated and are accounted for 

You must also review your EAP with designated employees whenever you update or change the plan. 

Step 4: Conduct Emergency Response Drills

As part of employee training, it’s essential to regularly conduct drills and ensure employees understand their specific roles during a disaster. This proactive approach lets workers practice EAP procedures and use evacuation routes — and allows you to assess performance.

Plan to conduct drills on-site at least twice a year. If the project will be completed in less than a year, aim to run a drill at its start and again a few weeks later if employees need additional practice.

Step 5: Develop a Construction Crisis Management Plan

While an EAP describes the actions to take during a disaster, a crisis management plan is a bit more broad, preparing your site for a variety of emergency situations, including serious injuries or an economic crisis. Any event that could cause disruption, harm your company’s reputation, or affect the project’s success deserves risk management planning.

Like an EAP, your crisis management plan can be a written document that defines risks and provides actionable mitigation steps. This plan should be unique to each project, accounting for the distinct site, materials, and equipment.

Although OSHA does not mandate a crisis management plan, this resource can function alongside your EAP and help you prepare for any emergency situation. 

Step 6: Plan for Post-Disaster Recovery

Be sure you know what to do after a disaster strikes. Your EAP should equip you to make decisions quickly in the aftermath so you can recover and get the project up and running again. Steps in this stage may include:

• Contacting resources to help you recover, such as a water removal service
• Taking photos and video of the damage and documenting them in writing
• Calling your insurance company, if applicable
• Contacting a consultant to assess damages and review or renegotiate a contract if needed

Overcoming Common Challenges in Preparing for Disasters

Preparing for a disaster can come with some challenges, hindering the ability to create an effective plan. Common challenges include:

Data Availability

Data is crucial for making informed decisions throughout the project life cycle — including when managing risks. Still, accessing and interpreting data is not always a streamlined process.

For example, finding accurate data on historic weather events or seismic activity at a specific site can be challenging. Disasters often affect small areas at a time, producing a small sample size and less accurate assumptions of future risks. 

When data availability is a challenge, consider leveraging alternative research methods and industry benchmarks to ensure your emergency action plan is reliable and effective. For example, you might talk with local emergency responders to learn more about the area’s risk. You can also consider integrating real-time weather data with your project management software.

Adapting to Changing Project Scope

Construction projects are inherently dynamic, with scope changes arising at any time. These changes introduce new potential hazards and require updating your EAP.

To ensure your team is always prepared for disaster, make sure your EAP enables flexibility from the start. For instance, create an EAP with digital checklists or templates that are easy to update.

Additionally, ensure you can easily share an updated EAP with stakeholders. Depending on your project management software, it may have customizable templates built in and stored in the cloud for easy collaboration.

Contact Spire Consulting Group for Construction Risk Management

Preparing your construction site for a disaster can be complex, from uncovering all potential risks to developing effective mitigation strategies. At Spire Consulting Group, our experts understand the challenges of disaster planning and risk management and are ready to help.

We offer tailored construction consulting services to guide project managers, contractors, and other stakeholders through every project phase.

With our risk management services, for example, our experts use their extensive industry knowledge to identify and analyze all risks that could cause project delays. Our team then develops risk response actions and pinpoints opportunities to improve an existing EAP.

We also help businesses recover from disasters with our damage assessment and quantification services. We assist you through every stage of recovery, from determining complete damages for insurance reimbursement to resolving complicated disputes.

Let our multidisciplinary team assist you in navigating the complexities of disaster planning and recovery so you can focus on your project’s success. Connect with us today for more information.

The content included in this article is for informational purposes only and does not reflect the opinions or recommendations expressed by any individual unless otherwise stated.