Product Showcase – Underground Update Provides Proactive Weather Safety Management
The sewer cleaning, inspection and rehabilitation sector has a new weather app – Underground Update (UU) – to help ensure crews and equipment inside a pipe are protected from unexpected upstream weather events.
“Laborers navigate critical tasks while contending with countless hazards, and one of the most pressing issues they face is the unpredictability of weather. A single downpour can transform a manageable project into a life-threatening situation,” says Robert O’Connor, creator of Underground Update. “A pivotal moment for me occurred when I was serving as a safety director for my family’s contracting business. One day, while the sun was shining overhead, a pop-up storm – which hadn’t appeared on any radar or hour-to-hour reports – struck just a few miles away from our pipe rehab crew. The sudden rain caught everyone off guard, leading to a chaotic situation where workers had to scramble for safety.”
O’Connor notes that this storm heightened his awareness of safety, as well as the potential for huge financial losses. Even light rainfall can lead to flooding causing contractors to lose uncured material and assets with these unforeseen rain events.
Thus, the concept of UU was born to mitigate dangerous safety situations caused by precipitation by providing workers with essential tools for safety.
There are other weather apps available, but what sets UU apart is its unique radius-driven update system. It sends text messages directly to field workers when precipitation occurs within a specified distance of a job site — up to 25 miles away. This proactive approach ensures that laborers and management are informed of changing weather conditions, allowing them to make timely decisions regarding their safety.
User-Friendly and Efficient
Management can set up the service in less than a minute for each job site. Laborers don’t need to download the app to receive text updates. Input phone numbers, and workers will receive real-time text alerts detailing the specific amount of rainfall —as little as 0.005 in. (a light drizzle) – along with its location within the designated radius. This feature is crucial for alerting laborers to impending weather threats, avoiding potentially fatal conditions in confined spaces.
The app also offers flexibility and customization. Users can pause notifications when they’re not working and options to receive updates via text, email or both. The GPS button allows for location-based alerts.
Underground Update offers all the essential features of traditional weather apps, empowering project managers to maintain job site safety. It reduces the stress of unexpected storms, allowing management to spend less time monitoring the weather and more time focusing on effective project management.
The need for a solution like Underground Update should not be underestimated when you look at the 1,030 occupational deaths that occurred between 2011-2018.
Underground Update preserves safety in these vulnerable situations and mitigates financial losses associated with lost materials, pumps, tools, plugs, etc. washed down the pipes causing massive project delays.
“Underground Update ensures that every worker, no matter how deep in the trenches, is always one step ahead of the weather,” says O’Connor.
For more information, call 513-254-9234.
SOURCE – Underground Update
