Construction is highly weather-dependent work. For example, when rain makes a site wet, there’s a variety of work you simply cannot do on that day or several afterward. At the same time, construction is also deadline-intensive work. That means crews need to be as productive as possible when the weather is amenable.
To pull off that balance where work is as continuous as possible but the workers doing it are also impeccably safe from potential weather hazards, construction companies need a better understanding of conditions at the exact locations where work is taking place. That’s where portable weather stations and re-deployable alerting systems come in.
Moving forward, we’ll explore…
Each year, 45% of construction projects worldwide are delayed by weather. Minimizing the weather’s impact on timelines and work crews has grown into one of the key challenges of our time.
Construction companies often manage a number of active sites at once within a given region. Even if those locations are within a relatively short distance of each other, they’re all experiencing unique weather conditions. There might be rain or extreme heat in certain places but perfectly workable conditions elsewhere.
Furthermore, different kinds of weather present various hazards depending on the type of project. If you’re building a single-level structure, wind isn’t a major safety consideration the way it is for a skyscraper.
From a management and operations perspective, knowing actual conditions at each site on a day-to-day and shift-to-shift basis is key to understanding how the company can best use time. With hyperlocal weather intelligence, management can make the best possible decisions about where to allocate assets to get work done, where to prepare sites for incoming weather, and where to avoid altogether.
But, of course, the people most impacted by weather risks at construction sites are the workers themselves. According to the EPA, 34% of all heat-related occupational deaths between 1992 and 2022 – 334 fatalities in total – were construction workers. If that’s not enough, about 20% of all lightning-related occupational fatalities occur in construction settings.
Given those statistics, construction firms must embrace a site-based weather safety model that maximizes the relevancy and accuracy of information. Let’s take a look at two different pieces of technology that can serve as the backbone of such a system.
A portable weather station is a sensor suite that gathers and reports environmental data from the field wherever it’s deployed. It can provide information on temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, rainfall, and beyond.
Weather stations deliver value on construction sites by offering a real-time glimpse into environmental conditions for any given site. With a weather station at the location of each project, operations leaders can get both a big-picture and a site-specific view of past and present conditions across their operations.
The data from those stations can be used to make decisions around protecting workers from heat stress, determining if it’s safe to use cranes, or knowing whether conditions are right to pour concrete. It can also help project managers update their completion date projections and keep various stakeholders updated on status.
Once a project is completed, the weather station can be packed, transported, and redeployed at the next work site, offering a construction firm value for years to come.
A lightning alert siren provides local alerts based on data from a global lightning network and is an ideal companion for a weather station at a construction site. Sirens provide a clear notification that workers can hear, telling them that dangerous storms are nearby. Many sirens can also be configured with multiple alerting thresholds so crews can configure a “warning” alert as well as a “clear the site” alarm.
With an on-site lightning horn, construction supervisors can take all the guesswork out of lightning safety, enabling crews to work as long as is safe while still providing enough advance notice of a potential lightning strike that all workers and the site itself can be protected.
As we’ve explored, the ideal site-based weather safety solution for construction teams involves two key components: a portable weather station and a re-deployable lightning siren. At AEM, we recommend the Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2™ station and the Sferic Siren lightning alerting system.
The Vantage Pro2 is designed to increase weather intelligence, awareness, and safety in any work context. The station is rugged and extremely easy to transport, deploy, and use, making it ideal for construction scenarios. Real-time and historic data from the station can be viewed within a variety of software applications, including AEM Elements™ 360.
The Sferic Siren outdoor warning system uses advanced lightning detection technology powered by the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network® to issue an automated audible and visible warning when dangerous weather is detected nearby, alerting everybody to seek shelter. It includes multiple alerting radiuses as well as an all-clear countdown, so crews know exactly when it’s safe to resume their normal work. Best of all, the Sferic Siren is configured for re-deployment, so it can move from job site to job site as projects are completed to deliver value and safety for years to come.
If you’re a construction company or crew leader looking to increase weather safety in a way that also keeps projects moving forward, AEM is here to help! We have experience connecting local work teams and multinational construction giants with the weather technology and data that they need to get work done while protecting workers, and we understand how to scale a pilot program that lets you see success at a site-based level before scaling up across operations.
Interested in entering the twenty-first century of weather safety? Let’s talk!