If you work construction in Florida, your chances of encountering lightning on the job site is very high. Tucker Paving has been operating in construction in Central Florida for over 30 years, and lightning is an expected part of our job sites during the summer rainy season. While lightning is common, we are never lax about safety. We have protocols in place for ensuring the safety of everyone on our job sites when dark storm clouds start rolling in. 

Lightning Safety Protocols

At Tucker Paving, we follow the 30-30 lightning rule; this is a way to measure the distance of a lightning strike as any strike 6 miles away or less is considered in the high-danger zone. The first part of the 30-30 lightning rule says that if counting seconds between seeing a lightning strike and hearing the thunderclap is 30 seconds or less, then it is time to suspend all outdoor operations and evacuate all personnel to approved shelters. The second “30” stands for waiting 30 minutes after seeing the last lightning strike or hearing the last thunderclap before going back outside and resume operations

However, we also require our Field Superintendents and Lead Foremen to utilize a lightning app that notifies when lightning is within six miles and to stay sheltered for 30 minutes after lightning has passed; we don’t guess. Whichever lead personnel is on site then alerts the others and team members to evacuate the job site and to seek shelter.

Should an evacuation need to be called, the protocols are as follows:

  • Evacuate immediately: Do not finish a task. A strike can travel 6 to 10 miles ahead of a storm cloud.
  • Drop equipment: Instruct operators to immediately step away from heavy machinery.
  • Accountability check: Account for all workers immediately using a buddy system.

Team members are to evacuate and move into approved safety shelters. These can include:

  • Substantial buildings: Move to fully enclosed structures with internal wiring and plumbing to serve as an earth ground.
  • Enclosed vehicles: Use hard-topped metal trucks or cars with the windows rolled completely up. Site vehicles that meet this requirement (but are not the only approved on-site vehicles) include Loaders, End Dumps, and Water Trucks.

Structures that are not safe and are thus prohibited structures to stand under during a storm include open tents, sheds, pavilions, or under trees.

Getting Equipment Ready

Most thunderstorms can be seen advancing before being within six miles of the job site. As a storm advances, we work to get our equipment and machinery ready. This includes:

  • Putting booms down on excavators & track-hoes.
  • Moving heavy machinery away from cranes, bulldozers, excavators, and metal drum rollers.
  • Avoiding contact with conductive materials, such as metal fences, pipelines, electrical wires, and open water.
  • Staying away from high-elevation structures like scaffolding, ladders, roofs, and utility poles.

Other Lightning Safety Considerations 

We instruct our workers that if you’re caught outdoors without shelter, you should:

  • Crouch low: Keep your feet tightly together and squat low to the ground.
  • Do not lie flat: Lying flat increases your surface area and exposure to dangerous ground currents.
  • Spread out: Keep remaining crew members spaced 50 to 100 feet apart to prevent a single ground current from injuring the whole team.

The process for resuming work includes:

  • The 30-minute rule: Keep all personnel sheltered until a full 30 minutes has passed since the last thunderclap is heard or lightning flash is seen. 
  • Everyone waits for clearance to return to work, or notification to go home.
  • Do not guess: Use commercial weather tools or automated apps to confirm the storm has officially exited the 6-mile perimeter before issuing an all-clear.

When to render Emergency First Aid includes:

  • If a worker is struck, call 911 immediately. 
  • Lightning victims do not retain an electrical charge and are entirely safe to touch. Begin CPR or locate an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) immediately if the victim has no pulse, as cardiac arrest is the leading cause of lightning fatalities.

We have been serving Central Florida since 1994 in the asphalt and concrete paving industry, and we take lightning seriously! We have completed projects for residential, commercial, and municipal clients. Contact us by calling (863) 299-2262, or use our contact form online. How can we help you with your next concrete or asphalt paving project?