NU-SAF-126 — INCLEMENT WEATHER & LIGHTNING

Tier 2/3 — Procedure + Field Card · Rev DRAFT · Drafted August 2, 2026 · Owner: Field Supervisor Parent: NU-SAF-100. [Adam: confirm which §5 element this hangs under.] Register line (NU-GOV-000 §4.1): "30/30 rule. Cheap."

THE GATE

See the flash, count to the thunder. Under 30 seconds = work stops and everyone is in a cab or a truck. Nobody comes back out until 30 minutes after the LAST thunder. Every new rumble resets the clock.

Record: stop time, restart time, and reason go in the DFR the same day (§8). A weather stop with no DFR line didn't happen — and the schedule hit it caused can't be defended later.

There is no OSHA lightning standard to hide behind. Lightning deaths on outdoor crews are cited under the General Duty Clause (OSH Act §5(a)(1)), and the OSHA–NOAA fact sheet Lightning Safety When Working Outdoors (OSHA 3863) is where the 30-minute rule comes from. This page is Nova's version of it.

1. WHY THIS DOCUMENT IS SHORT

Weather kills a utility crew three ways, and all three have the same fix — stop early, write it down:

1. Lightning. The rig is the tallest piece of metal on most sites Nova works.
2. Water in a trench. A trench takes water two ways — it fills, or it caves. Both are covered by NU-SAF-107 and summarized here.
3. A load or a door in the wind. Wind doesn't hit men. It hits the things men are standing next to.

Rain by itself does not stop work. Lightning, trench water, wind you have to brace against, and ice do. Knowing the difference is the whole skill.

2. LIGHTNING — THE 30/30 RULE

2.1 The count

• Flash to bang. See the flash, count the seconds to the thunder. Sound runs about 1 mile every 5 seconds — 30 seconds is roughly 6 miles.
• Under 30 seconds = in range = STOP. Lightning strikes 10 miles out from a storm. If you can hear thunder at all, you are already close to the edge of the danger zone. Under 30 seconds you are inside it.
• A radar app is fine for seeing it coming. The count is the rule. You don't need a phone or a signal to count to 30.

2.2 Where everyone goes

• Enclosed cabs and trucks, doors shut, windows up. A hard-top vehicle is the shelter. That's why the rule is cheap — the shelter is already on site.
• NOT under trees. NOT under or beside the trailer. NOT in a canopy or pop-up tent. NOT standing in the open "watching it."
• Inside the truck, don't lean on the door skin. Sit, wait, eat lunch. This is the one delay nobody has to feel bad about.

2.3 The rig

• The rig is the tallest metal thing on site. In a storm, nobody is on it, touching it, or leaning on anything connected to it — rods, rod box, locator, tooling, the trailer it sits on.
• If the storm gives warning: land any suspended load, shut the rig down, get off, get in the truck. If it doesn't give warning: just get off and get in the truck. Never climb back on to "finish the shot." The bore will be there in 30 minutes.
• A pullback in progress is planned around, not powered through. Check the sky and the radar before committing to a pullback (NU-FLD-220). But if the 30-second count trips mid-pull, the pull stops and the men get in the trucks anyway. Product can be re-mobilized. A man can't.
• Strike-alert electronics note: the rig's electric strike alert exists to catch contact with a live power line — it is not lightning protection and it does not make the rig safe in a storm. And a close lightning strike can damage or false-trigger that electronics package. After any nearby strike, function-test the strike alert and the locator before boring resumes. Drilling behind a fried strike alert is an NU-SAF-110 problem waiting to happen.

2.4 The restart

• 30 minutes after the LAST thunder. Not the last flash you happened to see — the last thunder anyone heard.
• Every new rumble resets the clock to zero. A storm that grumbles for an hour costs an hour and a half. Write it down and let it.
• Before work resumes: walk the site — water in the trench (§4), limbs down over the zone (§3), cones blown over (§3), locates still readable (§4).

2.5 If someone is struck

• Call 911 first. Then start CPR immediately if they're not breathing — a lightning strike victim carries no charge and is safe to touch. People die from the wait, not the touch.
• The nearest hospital/ER is already required on today's JSA per NU-SAF-100 §9 — check there first. Site emergency info and nearest-ER routing will later move to the work order per NU-SAF-119 [draft — nearest-ER field on the work order is still an open item there].

3. HIGH WIND

Wind has no flash-to-bang count, so the field test is honest and simple: if you have to brace against a gust, lifting and loading stop.

• Land suspended loads. Nothing hangs from a machine in gusting wind — reels, plates, boxes, tooling. Machine loading and unloading onto trailers waits per NU-FLT-310, and never exceeds the manufacturer's stated wind limit for any hoisting operation. [Adam: set the Nova wind number — one number for the whole company, e.g. "no lifting/loading above X mph sustained or gusts of Y." Until then the brace test + manufacturer limit governs.]
• Trailer doors get latched or shut. An open trailer door in a gust is a steel sail on hinges — it takes itself off, or takes a man's head with it. Open it, get what you need, latch it back.
• Look up. Dead limbs over the work zone come down in wind — before the storm, during it, and an hour after it. After any wind event, walk the zone looking UP before anyone works under trees.
• Wind flattens the work zone. Blown-over cones and signs mean the traffic control that was photographed this morning no longer exists. Reset the zone to the NU-SAF-105 standard before work continues — same standard, same buffer, and re-shoot the photo if the setup changed.
• Towing: an empty or high-sided trailer in a crosswind is its own hazard — NU-FLT-310 governs. In hazardous driving conditions, FMCSA 49 CFR 392.14 requires extreme caution and stopping when conditions are sufficiently dangerous. (Nova holds USDOT 4221697, currently INACTIVE in SAFER as of 8/1/26 — likely a lapsed MCS-150; reactivation is an open office task. This rule is drafted as applying.)

4. HEAVY RAIN

4.1 The trench — the one that kills

• Water in the trench = everyone out of the trench. A trench takes water two ways: it fills (drowning — faster than anyone believes in a pit with vertical walls), or the water softens the walls and it caves. Both are Subpart P territory.
• OSHA 29 CFR 1926.651(h)(1): no work in an excavation with accumulated water unless specific precautions protect the crew. 29 CFR 1926.651(k): the competent person inspects daily, and again after every rainstorm, and pulls exposed employees out until hazards are addressed.
• After any rain, nobody re-enters an excavation until the competent person has re-inspected and documented it. NU-SAF-107 is the controlling document for the water rule, the protective systems, and the inspection record [NU-SAF-107 is still in draft and Nova's competent person is not yet designated by name — both are open on the NU-GOV-000 register. Until SAF-107 issues, this section IS the rule.]

4.2 Locate paint washout

• Rain kills paint. Washed-out locate marks are unverified locates. Before the dig resumes after heavy rain, re-verify the marks per the NU-FLD-200 lunch check — same routine, weather-triggered instead of clock-triggered.
• If the marks are gone and can't be re-verified against the ticket, that's a stop-and-call, not a memory test.

4.3 Working in the rain

• Rain alone doesn't stop work. But it shrinks what everyone can see and hear: spotters and backing discipline per NU-SAF-116 matter twice as much, hand signals replace shouting, and mud changes footing around every open hole.
• Class 2 apparel stays ON over the rain gear, not under it.

5. COLD SNAP — GEORGIA VERSION

Georgia cold is a few mornings a year, which is exactly why it catches people.

• Bridges and overpasses freeze first. On the first freeze mornings, the road is wet and the bridge is ice. Slow down before the bridge, no sudden inputs on it. Same 49 CFR 392.14 caution rule as §3 applies to driving on ice.
• Hands. Cold, wet hands on steel tooling is how fingers get smashed — grip fails before the man notices. Insulated gloves per NU-SAF-102, and a dry spare pair in the truck. Wet cotton warms nobody.
• Three points of contact on iced steps, decks, and trailer ramps.
• Let machines warm up before loading them. [Adam: is there a freeze-protection routine for the hydrovacs' water systems overnight? Nothing is written; if one exists in practice it belongs here or in NU-FLT-300.]
• Heat is the other half of Georgia weather and has its own document — NU-SAF-112 [draft]. This page is the cold half.

6. WHO CALLS IT

• On site: the Crew Lead calls it. No phone call required, no permission required. The 30-second count trips, the Crew Lead calls the stop, everyone moves.
• Across sites: the Supervisor calls it. A cell moving across the metro hits crews at different times — the Supervisor can stop any or all crews ahead of it.
• Anyone can call the first stop. Any man who sees the flash and counts under 30 says so, and the crew moves. That's stop-work authority per NU-SAF-100 §4 — weather is the textbook case for it.
• Production never overrules weather. Not the footage goal, not the client on site, not "we're almost done with the pull." A weather stop is never wrong, never docked, and never costs anyone a point — including one that turns out to be a false alarm. The only version that costs points is working THROUGH a called stop (NU-PPL-403 — [Adam: assign the class/points for ignoring a weather stop; recommendation: same class as working without a safety zone]).
• The call goes on WhatsApp. WX STOP posts in your crew thread — that's the local record for that crew's Lead and Supervisor only (per NU-GOV-004's group roster, the crew thread does not reach the office or other crews). If the stop affects another crew or today's schedule, it also posts in NOVA — DISPATCH (Owner + both Supervisors + all Crew Leads) so the Supervisor and other crews actually see it in real time. Format on the card (§7).

NEVER — earned lines only

• NEVER on or touching the rig, the rods, or the tooling in a storm.
• NEVER shelter under a tree, under the trailer, or in a canopy.
• NEVER in a trench with standing water.
• NEVER re-enter an excavation after rain ahead of the re-inspection.
• NEVER let production restart the clock early. 30 minutes is 30 minutes.

7. THE FIELD CARD (Tier 3 — laminate, one per truck)

NU-SAF-126-C — WEATHER CARD

LIGHTNING — 30/30 1. See flash → count seconds to thunder. 2. Under 30 = STOP. Everyone in cabs/trucks, windows up. 3. Not under trees. Not under the trailer. Not touching the rig. 4. Restart 30 min after LAST thunder. New rumble = clock resets. 5. WhatsApp your crew thread: WX STOP [site] [time] lightning / WX RESTART [time]. Affects another crew or the schedule? Also post it in NOVA — DISPATCH.

WIND - Brace test: gust makes you brace = lifting/loading stops. Land loads. - Latch trailer doors. Look UP for limbs. Blown cones = rebuild the zone (SAF-105) before work.

RAIN - Water in the trench = OUT of the trench. No re-entry until re-inspection (SAF-107). - Rain kills paint — re-verify locates (FLD-200 lunch check) before digging again.

ICE - Bridges freeze first. Slow before the bridge. - Dry gloves, three points of contact.

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING: 911, then CPR now — a strike victim is safe to touch.

WRITE IT: stop time, restart time, reason → DFR, same day.

8. PROOF & RECORDS (what has to exist when this is done right)

Every gate above lands on one of these records. The DFR weather entry is the Tier-4 record this document creates; the rest belong to the documents named.

8.1 DFR weather delay entry (Tier 4 — required fields)

8.2 The record table

Accountability tie-in (NU-PPL-403): calling a weather stop = zero points, always. Working through a called stop, re-entering a wet trench ahead of inspection, or putting a man on the rig in a storm = [Adam: assign class — recommendation Class C, same family as working without a safety zone].

9. DONE WHEN

• Every weather stop in the season shows in a DFR with stop time, restart time, and reason — none reconstructed from memory.
• Zero men on or touching the rig in any storm, all season.
• Zero trench re-entries after rain without a documented re-inspection.
• Every weather stop that cost schedule produced a same-day changed-conditions notice.
• The card is in every truck and the WX STOP message format shows up in the WhatsApp thread the first time weather actually hits.

10. WHAT THIS DOCUMENT NEEDS FROM ADAM

1. Set the Nova wind number (§3) — one company-wide stop threshold for lifting/loading, or confirm the brace test + manufacturer limit stands as the rule.
2. Assign the points class for working through a called weather stop (§6, §8) — recommendation: Class C.
3. Name the competent person for post-rain trench re-inspection — same open item as NU-SAF-107 and the NU-GOV-000 register, and this document can't fully operate until it's answered.
4. Confirm the hydrovac freeze question (§5) — is there an overnight drain/freeze routine, and where should it live?
5. Add the WX STOP / WX RESTART message format to the NU-GOV-004 WhatsApp templates so the card and the Daily Loop match.
6. Add a weather module to the Day 1–2 training book — ten minutes on the 30/30 count and the card; the cheapest training block in the program.
7. Confirm this document's parent element under NU-SAF-100 §5.
8. DOT status: reactivate USDOT 4221697 (SAFER shows INACTIVE as of 8/1/26 — likely lapsed MCS-150). The 49 CFR 392.14 references in §3 and §5 are drafted as applying; the reactivation is an office task already open elsewhere and only noted here.
9. Add the weather stop/restart/reason/secured/notice-sent fields (§8.1) to the Nova app (Softr) production-log schema so this gate is enforceable in the app, not just on paper.

NU-SAF-126 · Rev DRAFT · Nova Underground · Parent: NU-SAF-100 · Register: NU-GOV-000 §4.1 ("30/30 rule. Cheap.") · Uncontrolled when printed.