Best Practices for a Proactive Strategy
Adverse weather events are of increasing concern among our customers. Fortunately, UG2 has a deep bench of expertise when it comes to preparing our people and properties for major storms like hurricanes. Our approach includes a tiered response that we adapt to the unique needs of our customers, and continuously refine based on incident reviews and emerging best practices.
Leadership and listening are both important tools in any facility management situation. While Team UG2 excels at operations, maintenance, and janitorial services across the board, hurricane preparedness demands that we look at all of those services through a different lens.
Our customers in hurricane zones benefit from UG2’s strong emphasis on planning, communication, and coordination. Our managers and supervisors continuously follow the weather and share information, updates, and evolve plans with our employees and with customers.
Employees are prepared to take action well in advance of an oncoming storm, ready to store and secure property and the many objects that can quickly become projectiles like umbrellas, outdoor chairs and tables, trash cans and equipment.
A Safety-first response
Since forecasts generally provide three to four days of advance warning for inclement weather, UG2 supervisors’ first move is for management to step in and enable our employees to first take care of their own personal needs, from evacuating family and pets to safety to securing their personal property and belongings. Then, supervisors identify the employees with the expertise and availability to staff the front line for the response, often arranging for them to stay in a nearby hotel to ensure both safety and accessibility.
Preparedness tasks are varied, from storing and securing property to monitoring flooding potential, arranging sandbags, clearing drains, checking equipment and batteries, conducting review of the properties for unexpected debris, fueling vehicles, and filling gas cans, all while carefully monitoring the path of the storm.
We tap the expertise of different teams by keeping employees on standby and maintaining continuous communication, with plans and alternative actions lined up depending on how the storm evolves. Of utmost importance is our ongoing communication with our customers, both to inform and update them on the situation and to gather new information and emerging concerns to pass on to our employees leading the response on the frontlines.
Safety and preparedness depend on advance preparation, which is why they are key topics integrated into all our meetings and trainings, with several layers of management involved in developing protocols and deploying action steps when a plan is activated.
Do you have questions about preparing your facility for adverse weather events? Get in touch with us today, and we will happily connect you with one of our on-staff experts.