What is an extreme weather emergency plan for a fleet?
A weather emergency plan is written before the season. It answers the questions there is no time to debate during a storm: who decides to delay or stop trips, at what threshold, how the decision reaches every driver, and how dispatch knows that every vehicle is somewhere safe.
The plan does not try to forecast the weather. It bases decisions on official alerts from the meteorological service, civil defense and police, and on reports from drivers and supervisors, then turns them into specific steps with names and times.
The hazards the plan covers
- Heavy rain and floods: wadis, underpasses and flooded roads. The driver's first rule is never to drive into moving water: turn back and take another road.
- Sandstorms and dust: sudden loss of visibility on highways and desert roads, sand drifting onto the road, and clogged air filters.
- Extreme heat: heat stress for drivers, cooling, tire and battery failures, and the risk of breaking down far from shade and water. The Summer Fleet Readiness Checklist complements this part.
The thresholds table has two more rows for fog and strong wind, and a blank row for any other hazard in your area.
How do you set thresholds to delay or stop trips?
Each hazard has a measure: the official alert level for rain, visibility in meters for dust and fog, air temperature for heat, and gust speed for wind. Your company writes three thresholds for each measure: Watch, Restrict and Stop.
The thresholds in the plan are left blank on purpose, because they depend on your vehicles, roads, loads and client requirements. Agree them with your HSE lead. The values filled in on the Thresholds sheet are examples for trying out the log, not a recommendation. An official alert can always raise the level whatever the reading, and no threshold may keep vehicles on the road against official instructions.
How to use the weather emergency plan, step by step
- Fill in the plan before the season: names, deputies and phone numbers, approved weather sources, and the thresholds for each hazard.
- Approve and distribute it: a copy in the control room and with each supervisor; give drivers sections 5 to 7 and walk them through it in a pre-season briefing.
- When an alert is issued or a threshold is reached, the decision maker sets the level and records the decision on the Decision log with the value, source and instructions.
- Notify drivers with the ready message for the level and follow the replies until every driver confirms. Call anyone who has not replied.
- Track check-ins on the Driver check-ins sheet until every vehicle is back at base or at a safe point.
- Declare the all-clear and review within a few days: what worked, what was slow, and what to change in the thresholds or messages.
How does the Excel log suggest the level and flag delays?
The log compares the value you type on the Decision log with the thresholds on the Thresholds sheet and suggests the highest level the value reaches. The decision stays with the decision maker; if they choose a level below the suggestion, the log asks for a written reason.
The 30-minute interval, the 15-minute escalation delay and the 30-minute target to confirm all drivers are example values on the Settings sheet: replace them with your company rule. The Summary counts decisions by hazard and level, the average minutes to confirm, overdue check-ins, and open and overdue review actions.
Worked example: a sandstorm in the Eastern region
Event WX-2026-03 with example visibility thresholds: Watch from 2,000 m, Restrict from 1,000 m, Stop from 200 m.
- 13:40 official alert, visibility 1,500 m. Below 2,000 but above 1,000, so the suggestion is Watch. The message went to 12 vehicles at 13:50 and the last driver confirmed at 14:15: 25 minutes.
- 15:10 a driver reports visibility around 800 m, so the suggestion is Restrict: no new trips, and the nine vehicles on the road head for the nearest station. Confirmation took 40 minutes, above the 30-minute target, so the flag "Confirmation slower than target" appears.
- 16:05 an official forecast of visibility below 200 m moves the level to Stop; all drivers confirm within 22 minutes. Vehicle VAN-02 misses its 16:40 check-in and turns Escalate at 16:55, until the driver answers by phone.
- 19:30 the official alert ends. The all-clear is declared and drivers are released once they are safe and their vehicles checked.
- Review: two drivers were slow to reply at Restrict, so a second notification channel is added. Air filters were not checked on 3 trucks, so the filter check is added to the restart checklist.
Common mistakes in weather emergency plans
- Thresholds copied from another company. A threshold that suits a city car does not suit a truck on a desert road.
- A decision with no name. "Management will decide" wastes time. Name one decision maker and a deputy for every shift.
- Messages with no confirmation. A message the driver has not answered has not arrived yet.
- Asking drivers to read messages while driving. The driver stops somewhere safe first, then reads and replies.
- Finishing the delivery despite the alert. Do not keep a vehicle on the road because the customer is waiting. Tell the customer the new time.
- Skipping the review. Whatever was slow this time will be slow next time unless it is fixed.
What the plan does not cover
The plan is a generic template. It does not replace official alerts and instructions from the meteorological service, civil defense and police, which always come first. It does not set official stop thresholds. If your country has rules on working in heat or on midday working hours in summer, check your authority's current requirement. Evacuation, first aid and incident response stay in your company's general emergency plan and in the Vehicle Breakdown and Towing Procedure. The template is a working tool, not legal advice.