After-hours emergencies: who is called and what they do
At 23:30 on a windy Friday, a neighbour calls the number on your site sign: a tarp has torn loose from the scaffold and is slapping against her bedroom window. The number rings in the empty site trailer. She calls the city's after-hours line instead, and your company hears of it on Monday from a bylaw officer.
Before the site is ever left empty, name an on-call person and a backup for every night and weekend, and give them keys, codes, every shut-off's location and the numbers of trades who can stop the damage. A split water line or a break-in grows by the hour, and the first call goes to whatever number the alarm company has. Include the contacts and response arrangements in the site emergency and fire safety plans.
- Set the call order: emergency services first for fire, injury or a crime in progress; then the on-call person, the backup and the project manager; then 24-hour trades, the owner and the insurer's claims line.
- Put one current, dated list wherever a call starts: the alarm company, the site sign, the fire safety plan and each on-call person's phone.
- Give the responder a site card: key locations, gate and alarm codes, and the water shut-offs and electrical disconnects, with photos and who may operate each.
- Set the responder's safety rules: never enter standing water near live power or a building with an intruder, and check in by phone while alone on site.
- Test it on a weekday evening: call the list and have the on-call person find each shut-off unaided. Repeat when people or phases change.
- Write it down that night, with times and calls, so the first 48 hours start from facts.
Common mistakes
- Leaving the site trailer number as the only after-hours contact.
- Naming a responder without keys, authority or a backup.
- Testing the phone list without testing access and shut-off locations.
Checklist
The on-call card
- Tonight's on-call person and backup, with mobile numbers
- Emergency services first when anyone is at risk
- Where the keys are; gate and alarm codes
- Shut-offs and disconnects, with photos and who may use them
- 24-hour trades: plumber, electrician, restoration, fencing, glazing
- The owner's contact and the insurer's claims line
Check your understanding
Your on-call superintendent reaches a break-in alarm at 01:00 and sees a flashlight moving inside. What should the plan tell them to do?
