While temperatures have been mild this fall, now is the time to begin preparing for winter weather. Winter weather may raise your exposure to property damage, vehicle accidents, and slips, trips, and falls, just to name a few.
Preparing your employees now and ensuring you have the equipment and resources in place to work safely is key to mitigating these risks.
Winter Weather Risks:
- Driving: When driving in winter weather:
- Adjust your speed to account for poor road conditions. To maintain traction, accelerate and decelerate slowly.
- Maintain a safe following distance. If conditions worsen, increase your following distance. If you are driving an entity vehicle, consider that it may respond differently from your personal vehicle. Larger vehicles take longer to stop.
- Do not use cruise control. When driving on wintery roads covered in ice and snow, do not use cruise control.
- Avoid coming to a hard stop on icy roads. Instead, carefully decelerate to a slow roll rather than stopping completely.
- Keep your distance from snow plows. Drivers have limited visibility – use caution when passing.
- Slippery surfaces: Clear sidewalks and walkways of ice and snow. Identify areas where melted snow/ice may gather and install nonslip floor materials and wet floor signs to mitigate slip, trip, and fall risks.
- Snowplows: Allow drivers time to become familiar with their routes. Ensure they inspect vehicles and equipment before each shift, and determine emergency shift rotations and schedules to allow for appropriate rest before winter begins.
- Property Damage: Ensure you don’t experience roof collapse or frozen pipes by increasing your walk-around inspections of facilities during cold weather. Cover exposed pipes and check upper floors to make sure heat is circulating in the ceiling where sprinklers may be present. Confirm that temperature controls and warning devices are operational, and that heat is on in all buildings.
- Communication: Review your communication plan for sharing information with staff and citizens regarding openings, closings, delays, and alerts.
For members interested in preparing now for the upcoming winter weather, VRSA has prepared a guide, available on our website, with checklists, tips, sample policies, and more. This guide is designed to help members prevent and reduce losses and is offered as part of VRSA’s commitment to protecting members and their employees, so they can effectively serve their communities.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss winter weather preparedness, reach out to your safety consultant.