Weathering the Storm: Staying in Control When Conditions Change 

For utility vegetation management crews, storm response can transform a familiar job into an unpredictable operating environment. 

Trees may be uprooted or under stress. Limbs can become entangled with electrical infrastructure. Roads and rights-of-way may be difficult to access. Weather can continue to change even after restoration work begins. 

At this year’s Trees & Utilities Conference, presented by the Utility Arborist Association (UAA) and the Arbor Day Foundation, Ray Crump of XKIG’s Operational Excellence team delivered “Weathering the Storm with Safety,” examining how professionals can maintain safety standards amid rapidly changing conditions. 

For vegetation management crews, the takeaway is especially important: experience matters, but it must be paired with continuous reassessment. 

A Familiar Task Can Become a Different Job 

Storm work often begins with a clear assignment. What crews discover in the field may be far more complicated. 

Removing a damaged limb may expose another hazard. A tree that appeared stable may shift. Access conditions may change. Additional work may be identified once the crew arrives on site. 

This gradual expansion of an assignment is sometimes called task creep. The danger is not necessarily a single dramatic change. It is a series of smaller changes that can eventually render the original job briefing and controls insufficient for the work being performed. 

Crews need to recognize that moment and reassess. 

Don’t Let Routine Replace Recognition 

Experience is one of the industry’s greatest assets, but storm conditions require even the most experienced professionals to challenge routine assumptions. 

A pruning or removal technique that is familiar under normal conditions may pose very different risks when trees are storm-damaged, conductors are compromised, terrain is unstable, or equipment access is limited. 

Crews must continue asking:  

• What has changed?  
• What new hazards are present?  
• Is our original plan still valid? 

The All-Stop provides crews with a simple but powerful tool for answering those questions. 

When conditions change, work pauses. The team reassesses the site, identifies new hazards, communicates the changes, and determines whether additional controls or a different approach are necessary. 

Everyone should have the authority to raise a concern and to initiate that reassessment. Stopping does not mean the operation has failed. It indicates the team recognizes that conditions have changed and is taking deliberate action to regain control. 

Preparing for the Conditions You Can’t Predict 

Preparing for storm response means developing the skills, communication, and decision-making practices crews need before severe weather occurs. 

Because no storm response will unfold exactly as planned. 

Thanks, Ray, for sharing your valuable insights with the Trees & Utilities community.