Flash Flood and Rising Water Awareness
Construction · Ver en español
Talking points
- Flash floods can develop in minutes — especially in excavations, trenches, and low-lying areas. Six inches of fast-moving water can knock a person off their feet.
- Monitor weather forecasts before and during the shift. If flash flood warnings are issued for your area, evacuate excavations and low areas immediately.
- Trenches collect water rapidly. Even without a flood, heavy rain can saturate the soil and dramatically reduce its stability, triggering cave-ins hours after the rain stops.
- Never attempt to drive equipment or vehicles through flowing water. Water depth is impossible to judge visually, and the roadbed may have washed away beneath the surface.
- After flooding, inspect all excavations, foundations, and temporary structures before re-entering. Assume that conditions have changed and re-evaluate protective systems.
Ask the crew
Is there any low-lying area on this site that would flood in a heavy rain — and do we have an evacuation plan for it?
Standards this talk is built on
- Section 5(a)(1)
A toolbox talk is a short safety briefing. It supports the training a standard requires; it does not replace it.
Run this talk with your crew and keep the record
In Jobsite, workers sign in on their phones in English or Spanish, and you keep who attended, when, and where, with every other talk your crew has had.
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Sign-in sheet
Print this page to collect signatures, or run the talk in Jobsite and workers sign in on their phones.
| Name | Signature | Date |
|---|---|---|
© Jobsite. Free to read aloud, print and use in your own crew's safety meetings. Republishing, reselling or bulk-copying these talks is not permitted.