Action Required! Software Vendors Offer Solutions To Protect Against Extreme Weather Events
Action Required! Software Vendors Offer Solutions To Protect Against Extreme Weather Events
One result of climate change has been an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and tsunamis. 2024 has been no exception, with several environmental disasters across the globe. Financial costs are a major consequence of these events, and 2024 already ranks as the second-most expensive year for weather and climate disaster events in the US since 1980. Towards the end of 2024, the US has endured two hurricanes: Helene and Milton, the former becoming the most expensive storm in US history, with a total cost of approximately $200 billion in damages.
Extreme weather events not only result severe financial costs, but they also affect infrastructure, humans and the surrounding environment. Some industries are more susceptible to these extreme weather events due to their operational nature. For example, construction sites and oil and gas facilities are usually outside environments, making them vulnerable to high winds and extreme flooding. Manufacturing sites can suffer from damaged infrastructure or machinery, limiting accessibility to workers and halting production. Along with these financial risks comes the threat of injury or, in more extreme cases, SIFs – from flying debris, flooding and collapsing structures. These threats stress the importance of firms implementing strategies and tools to protect workers and facilities from the impact of extreme weather events.
A major challenge when dealing with extreme weather is unpredictability. Forecasting technology only provides an estimate, and hurricanes – for example – can change direction or intensity suddenly. This can catch firms off-guard and significantly alter the overall impact of the event. Nonetheless, there are some proactive measures that decision-makers can implement to help limit these risks, such as crisis planning, risk assessments and software tools. Recently, EHS software vendors have begun integrating emergency response and crisis management tools into their solutions. Take EcoOnline, which offers a dedicated module to deal with emergency situations like environmental disasters. Users can create crisis response plans that include multiple crisis scenarios, role-based task management and corporate governance.
Another EHS software vendor with an innovative crisis management solution is Sphera, which enables firms to monitor critical equipment inventories, shelters, emergency provisions and response staff, and strike team members. This up-to-the-minute crisis data management effectively manages resources and makes response operations available across all impact areas.
As climate change continues, the probability of extreme weather events is likely to continue rising. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important that firms have emergency response and crisis management tools in place to manage these cases to the best of their ability. To read more about how EHS software can manage emergencies, head to the Verdantix research portal.