Lightning and Storms Toolbox Talk
If you can hear thunder, you are already close enough to be hit, and the highest metal thing on this site is something one of you is standing on.
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Look up. Now look at the crane, the scaffold and the roof. If a storm arrives in twenty minutes, who is furthest from the ground and how long does it take to get them down?
There is no OSHA standard for lightning. What there is is the General Duty Clause and a joint OSHA and NOAA fact sheet, which is the guidance everybody uses and which says one thing above all: when thunder roars, go indoors.
Any thunder you can hear was made by lightning, and the distance does not make you safe. Strikes reach well outside the rain. People are regularly hit under blue sky at the edge of a storm.
So the trigger is sound, not sight, and it is not negotiable. First thunder means work stops and people come down. Cranes, scaffolds, roofs, lifts and ladders are the first things off, not the last.
Shelter is a building with wiring and plumbing, which give the current somewhere to go. If there is no building, a hard topped vehicle with the windows up is the fallback. A site trailer counts. An open sided tent, a shed, a portable toilet and a pickup bed do not.
You stay in shelter for thirty minutes after the last thunder. Not after the last flash, and not after the rain stops. Thirty minutes from the last thing you heard, and the clock restarts every time you hear another one.
The rest of severe weather is wind. Lifts and cranes have wind limits from the manufacturer and they are lower than people expect, and a sheet of plywood or a stack of siding becomes a different object at forty miles an hour.
Point at these before anybody starts
A talk delivered in a trailer is a meeting. Stand where the work is and put a hand on each of these.
- The tallest thing on this site, and who works on it.
- The building or trailer you would shelter in, and how long the walk is.
- The vehicles here, and which of them are hard topped.
- Loose sheet material, and where it goes when a wind warning comes in.
- The lift, and the wind speed on its plate.
- Whoever is watching the forecast today, and on what.
The rules that apply
- First thunder stops the work. Not first lightning seen, first thunder heard.
- Everyone comes down off cranes, scaffolds, roofs, lifts and ladders before sheltering.
- Shelter is a substantial building with wiring and plumbing, or a hard topped vehicle with the windows up if there is no building.
- Nobody returns to work until 30 minutes after the last thunder, and the clock restarts on each new rumble.
- Stay away from isolated tall trees, hilltops, utility poles, towers, cranes, large equipment, ladders, scaffolding and rooftops.
- Lifts and cranes come down to the manufacturer's wind limit, and loose sheet material is secured before the wind arrives, not during it.
Ask the crew
Three questions, answered out loud by name. This is the part that tells you whether anybody was listening.
- How long from first thunder until everybody here is inside something?
- Where exactly is inside, and does it have wiring and plumbing?
- How long do we wait, and from what moment?
Close with this
Thirty minutes of standing in a trailer is the cheapest thing that will happen on this job all year.
A talk nobody signed for is a talk that, as far as anybody can later prove, never happened. Use the free toolbox meeting sign in sheet in PDF, Word or Excel, or print the PDF above, which already has the signature lines on it.
Questions people ask
How far away can lightning strike from the storm?
Far enough that the OSHA and NOAA guidance is built around sound rather than distance. Strikes happen well outside the rain and under clear sky at the edge of a storm, which is why hearing thunder is the trigger rather than seeing the storm overhead.
Is a pickup truck safe shelter?
A hard topped vehicle with the windows rolled up is the fallback when no building is available. It works because of the metal shell, not the tires, so an open cab, a convertible, a golf cart or the bed of a pickup gives you nothing.
Why thirty minutes and not five?
Because the storm cell that produced the last strike can still produce another one, and the trailing edge of a storm is where a large share of lightning deaths happen. The thirty minute wait after the last thunder is the number in the OSHA and NOAA fact sheet.
More toolbox talks
TOOLBOX TALK: LIGHTNING AND SEVERE WEATHER
Attendance
Everybody who was present signs, including subcontractors and anybody visiting the site.