Many workers find it challenging to do their jobs throughout the winter. It’s crucial to guarantee the well-being of everyone working in commercial buildings, from the people on the construction site to the cleaning and security employees.
In this article, we’ll discuss steps you can take to get your business and staff ready for the coming winter.
Table of Contents
Add Preventive Measures To Prevent Slips and Falls
During the winter months, workers’ primary safety priority should be avoiding slips and falls on icy surfaces. Preventing snow and ice from sticking to the ground is as simple as being prepared and making sure all pathways, car parks, and access points have been salted or grated. Having a strategy for snow and ice removal in place ensures that staff and customers can still enter the business securely, even if the weather is exceptionally harsh.
You should stock up on grit and salt in preparation for the winter months. Good quality absorbent matting placed at the entrance of a building can also assist prevent tracked-in ice melt residue.
The risk of site personnel falling in poorly lit regions is much reduced when task or flood lighting is in place throughout the dark winter mornings and nights, allowing as much work as possible to continue so that you can keep to deadlines.
Prepare the Workplace
It’s crucial that your workplace functions normally even in extreme weather. A broken boiler, frozen pipes, or other plumbing emergencies can result in astronomical repair costs.
Perform routine maintenance on the boilers and inspect the building for any drafts, leaks, or cracks, paying specific attention to the roof and the areas surrounding the doors and windows. You don’t want to see your employees shivering in their office chairs! Get a professional business to come to do a winter health check on your building if you are unaware of how to look for these indications.
That includes taking measures to safeguard your IT systems and data. Data loss due to power outages may be quite expensive for businesses. You should test your system in advance of inclement weather, whether you host data locally, remotely, or on the cloud, in case your employees need to retrieve data in the event of a disaster.
In addition, making it so employees can access files and emails remotely means they may work safely from a different place, which could be helpful if they are unable to make it to their office desks. Since account managers are always on the road meeting with clients, provide them with tablets so that they can stay productive no matter where they are—even if poor weather prevents them from getting to their scheduled meetings.
Appraise Winter Expenditures
Because the cost of labor might be the single largest expense associated with winter maintenance, it is essential that every construction project takes into consideration the impact that poor weather conditions can have on the number of work hours that are required. Jobs are able to be thoroughly planned, and accurate costs may be determined thanks to competent project management and astute ahead planning.
When caring for the upkeep of any structure as well as the grounds surrounding it, it is important to take into consideration both the cost of winter goods and the correct way to utilize them. Rock salt, for instance, is easy to come by and inexpensive, but it melts sluggishly and may be harmful to grass and plants, both of which would be expensive to replace if they were destroyed as a result of its use by golfers clothing.
Crack A Window Open
If the temperature outside is mild, say 55 degrees or above, you should take advantage of any opportunity you have to open the windows in your workplace for 15 to 20 minutes. By bringing in new air and distributing it throughout the structure, we can flush out any leftover pollutants.
It also allows your heater intake to take in fresher air (when the windows are shut, of course), which aids in circulation and ventilation. If you want to boost your immune system and stop the spread of sickness, opening a window is a great place to start. Studies have shown that indoor air contains much more contaminants than outside air, even in cities.
Bonus Tip: Keep Up With The Weather Alerts
In order to stay ahead of any storm warnings, alerts, and updates, you may subscribe to a number of weather applications and websites. You can better prepare for a severe weather event and keep your staff informed if you know what to expect before it happens. Keeping operations going smoothly with little interruption requires notifying workers of the need to provide additional time for travel, as well as informing construction workers to wear suitable footwear and extra layers.
