Natural Disaster Preparedness for Construction Crews
Natural disasters can take a toll on your construction business. The exposure and severity levels vary largely based on one’s physical location.
According to researchers, the US experiences nearly seven hurricanes every four years. But news sources cite a significant increase over the past few years. High-impact earthquakes happen less often, but they have the worst impact on businesses.
With all these in mind, savvy construction contractors must create a contingency plan. The best managers don’t wait for calamities; they prepare upfront.


Below are some natural disaster preparedness tips to prepare for the worst.
Natural Disaster Preparedness Tips for Construction Crews
Organize a disaster response team
Create a team of reps in every department of your construction firm. The crisis team should include the management, administrative staff, and the on-site team. Choose people who can spot possible problems during emergencies and offer brilliant ideas to remedy them.
Get ready for the unexpected
Because some natural disasters happen without a warning, your team should be proactive. Always prepare for the worst-case scenarios. This will help project managers spot possible weak points and adjust your plan to cover all the risks.
Remember, a construction site can increase the dangers posed by natural disasters. The materials used on-site can become dangerous debris and cause severe injuries. Nevertheless, you can increase safety levels by creating storage places for materials and equipment.
Preparing adequately before a natural disaster can save you thousands of dollars in potential losses and damages.
What’s more, it ensures you comply with all safety regulations.
Understand emergency response procedures
To implement a disaster plan successfully, explain to everyone their role beforehand.
All staff, construction workers, and the response team members must understand what to do throughout the disaster. Spend time breaking down the emergency procedure at every level of your organizational structure.
Remember to consider on-site setbacks and communicate your findings to the relevant parties, i.e., subcontractors, clients, suppliers, builders, etc. Next, review your operation procedures with the various groups.
Rework your response plan after the disaster
You can only tell if your recovery plan was a flaw or a masterpiece based on how it minimizes damage and encourages recovery during and after storms.
Look at every stage or process in the emergency plan to see how effective they were and the changes to make. Be as honest and thorough as possible when analyzing the effectiveness of each process.
Use construction tech to manage disasters
Because disaster planning can be overwhelming, wise contractors use a centralized cloud-based platform to store all their critical docs from natural disasters. Digital records also give immediate access if the tragedy leads to an evacuation.
Such technologies can help you to determine what equipment you need to move, which materials you need to store, as well as other safety tips to reduce onsite damage.
What’s an Evacuation Plan & Why You Need it
This is a well-practiced strategy of what you and your workers will do if a sudden disaster strikes.
It must explain all the safest escape routes, safety assembly points, and any other important info to get away from a deadly situation. It must also have an emergency response protocol for victims in need of first and CPR assistance.
A disaster evacuation plan must be practiced from time to time and updated based on new risk assessments.
Recruits must also be informed about the strategy. Lastly, place posters of the evacuation strategy in strategic locations visible to all workers and visitors.
Why do construction teams need an emergency evacuation plan?
As hinted throughout the post, this document is your master plan if things go wrong, and the building is unsafe.
These dangers could come from fire, earthquake, tornado, terrorist attacks, etc. Below are some of the reasons to draft an emergency evacuation strategy:
It is a requirement by OSHA (the Occupational Safety & Health Administration)
It eliminates confusion if a disaster strikes. That way, your workers suffer lesser injuries and escape fatal situations that greatly impact your team and organization.
It helps you to take control of the situation.
When developing an evacuation strategy, be sure to consider all of OSHA’s requirements.
What to include in your natural disaster preparedness evacuation plan
A well-thought-out emergency escape plan should include the following and more (depending on your risk profile):
Safety routes and emergency exits to move workers and visitors from the danger zone in a reduced-risk manner.
Safety Assembly Points that are easy to access and far from danger.
Detailed info on safety equipment and how to use them during disasters.
Important emergency contact info to help communicate the emergency to the entire organization and call for emergency response teams, including firefighters, medics, etc.
Disaster Reporting Procedure, which educates staff on how to inform the crew of the danger and ensure timely evacuation.
With that in mind, let us understand the steps to create an emergency evacuation strategy.
Natural Disaster Preparedness: Steps to Create an Emergency Evacuation Plan
Construction crews need a solid evacuation plan. The best approach is to identify possible risks before drafting a plan. Here are the steps to follow.
Know the risks
Construction sites have different risk profiles. Because emergencies are unpredictable, your imagination is all you have, so it’s important to determine the likely dangers before embarking on the plan.
Businesses must start by assessing their risk profile before discussing an evacuation strategy. Determining the possible dangers upfront can ensure you create a practical strategy.
Search for data on when natural calamities strike and prepare a strategy that will help you survive through different emergencies.
Also, involve your team during the assessment to cover all potential risks and increase compliance to safety standards.
Learn the law
OSHA’s emergency action plan has a set of rules guiding businesses through creating a compliant evacuation strategy.
Find out what’s expected of your business to ensure total compliance. The consequences of acting against laws can be as detrimental as injuries to team members, loss of lives, and expensive lawsuits.
Remember, it is the employer’s responsibility to safeguard their workers. Plus, all injury-related costs fall on the organization.
Begin with the most apparent risk
Start by addressing the most apparent danger in your site. If you’re in a fire-prone area, prepare your team to deal with fires adequately.
Creating safety exit routes and a risk-free assembly point should be your top priority. You’ll also need to decide on PPE placement and conduct training to ensure everyone understands the evacuation process.
Below are other steps to take;
Prepare a meeting zone for post-emergency briefings
Share the evacuation strategy; add the layout of the office showing the emergency exits and assembly areas
Check and maintain safety equipment time and again
Repeat the emergency evacuation plan over and over
Set aside tools for off-site uses.
Lastly, feel free to include any other steps you deem useful when drafting your natural disaster preparedness plan.
Assign Duties
Evacuation is a collaborative process. You need to assign tasks to various employees to ensure a smooth danger escape plan.
Remember, all team members have a role to play in the emergency exit plan. Training everybody in their role eliminates confusion and panic.
Gather Emergency Equipment
A risk exposure plan helps you draft a list of must-have equipment for your disaster response strategy.
Collect all the material you need upfront, and place all equipment in easy-to-access areas. Gathering equipment before danger strikes gets you ready to act when things go south. It also ensures a speedy response because all workers know where safety equipment is stored.
Equipment must include fitting personal protective equipment and any other important safety tools, such useful in administering first aid and CPR.
Practice your plan
Practicing the plan is essential in ensuring a successful emergency evacuation procedure. Training prepares workers to deal with intense situations and act appropriately amid a crisis.
Even a well-crafted action plan can fail if not practiced and mastered by the entire workforce.
Employees love to be involved in organizational processes. Seeking their opinions throughout the practice session can help increase adherence to company standards.
Practicing the routine over and over can also help you spot and correct any loopholes in the action plan. Lastly, include first aid and CPR training in your evacuation plan to help workers deal with injuries.
Final Thoughts on Natural Disaster Preparedness
Designing a response and recovery plan is cheaper than getting caught unaware. Take the above steps to reduce damage, expenses, and disaster-related risks as a construction contractor.