Focus on a project:

Hurricane preparations, Florida, USA

Speaking Imagine you work on a construction site and receive a warning of bad weather:
high winds and possible flooding. Work in pairs and list the preparations you
need to make.

Reading 2 Hurricanes are common in Florida, USA. The Florida Home Builders Association
gives hurricane preparation tips to construction sites. Read this extract from
their guidelines and add to or change your list in 1.

Hurricane preparation tips for construction sites

Local e m e r g e n c y o p e r a t i o n s officials a n d the National W e a t h e r S e r v i c e will
provide hurricane landfall probabilities. Approximately 6 0 to 4 8 hours before the hurricane is
e x p e c t e d to make landfall, consider cancelling the delivery of building materials to all j o b sites
except any materials n e e d e d t o s e c u r e the building site f r o m s t o r m d a m a g e .
W h i l e c o n t r a c t o r s generally d o n ' t w a n t to s t o p or delay c o n s t r u c t i o n activities, the 4 8 - to
2 4 - h o u r w i n d o w b e f o r e landfall is the s u g g e s t e d t i m e to s t o p all c o n s t r u c t i o n activity. It's
i m p o r t a n t to note that m o s t local building d e p a r t m e n t s generally s t o p field i n s p e c t i o n s , except
for t h o s e related to p o u r i n g c o l u m n s , tie b e a m s , w e t d e c k s , floors a n d similar structural items,
d u r i n g this time as w e l l .
C o n t r a c t o r s are e n c o u r a g e d to activate their h u r r i c a n e j o b site plan d u r i n g this w i n d o w of t i m e .
Notify s u b c o n t r a c t o r s to help s e c u r e the building site. Helpful hints for site p r o t e c t i o n include:
• S e c u r e all j o b sites, giving priority attention to
t h o s e l o c a t e d in the m o s t p o p u l a t e d a r e a s . . . ; - ^ ^
• C l e a n up all c o n s t r u c t i o n d e b r i s .
• Tie or b a n d t o g e t h e r all loose p l y w o o d and lumber.
S e c u r e other loose building supplies.
• R e m o v e permit b o a r d a n d all j o b site s i g n a g e .
• L o c a t e a n d turn off electricity, w a t e r a n d g a s .
A l s o , s e c u r e all portable toilets. Portable toilets c a n also
b e a n c h o r e d adjacent to L-shaped walls of the h o m e
under c o n s t r u c t i o n and they c a n be w e i g h t e d d o w n
w i t h c o n c r e t e b l o c k s or s a n d .
After the site is secure, advise subcontractors to leave
and not return until the hurricane threat has p a s s e d .
M a k e sure to have contact numbers for all subcontractors
stored in a secure and dry place and that they k n o w w h o
will contact them after the hurricane passes.

Speaking 3 Work in small groups. One of you is a site manager and the others are
subcontractors on a construction site near you.
Site manager: You have just received a hurricane warning. Make notes on the
preparations you need to make. Then brief your subcontractors. Start like this:
77iere are a lot of preparations we need to make. First, we need to ...
Subcontractors: You have just received a hurricane warning. The site manager
will brief you on hurricane preparations. Make notes on the questions you need
to ask. Then ask him/her the questions.
When do you want us to ...? What about the ...?

4 Work with people from other groups. Compare your hurricane preparations.
He said, 'We need to remove all signage.'
She told us to check the batteries in our mobile phones.

66 8 Health and safety