The Met Office puts it simply: taking a few simple precautions before damaging winds arrive can make the clearing up afterwards easier and quicker. Here is a checklist to work through.
1. Bring in or tie down anything that could blow about
Met Office WeatherReady advice is to check for loose items outside and secure them, naming bins, plant pots and outdoor furniture, and to secure anything that could be blown into windows and other glazing. Walk the outside of the building and look for A boards and pavement signs, outdoor tables, chairs, parasols and planters, smoking shelters and temporary covers, wheelie bins and loose recycling, ladders, pallets and cones, and skips, which should be covered or netted. If it can come inside at night, bring it in. If it can’t, tie it down, weigh it or move it away from glazing and walkways.
2. Clear gutters and drains
Autumn leaves pile into gutters, downpipes and surface drains, and heavy showers then have nowhere to go. Check the gutters you can see, the gullies in your car park and the grates by doors and loading bays. Gutter work at height should be left to people with the right equipment.
3. Look at roofs, signage and fixings from the ground
The Met Office warns that in windy weather branches, cast iron guttering and roof slates can come down. Stand back and look, without climbing anything. Slipped slates, loose signs or brackets, rocking fence panels, overhanging branches. Get anything doubtful checked by a competent contractor.
4. Keep entrances and paths safe from wet leaves
HSE notes that slip and trip accidents increase in autumn and winter, partly because wet leaves on paths become slippery, and that many slips happen at entrances as people walk in rainwater. Sweep the busiest routes first, use large absorbent entrance mats laid flat, dry the floor inside the door during wet spells and check your outside lighting now that it gets dark earlier.
5. Tidy waste areas
Keep lids closed, don’t let bins overflow, flatten and secure cardboard, and park bins somewhere sheltered. A tidy bin area is also less inviting to pests as the weather cools.
6. After the wind and rain: clear up
Walk round before staff and customers arrive. Look for litter and debris, blocked drains and standing water, items that have moved or broken, and anything that has come down. The Met Office advises keeping clear of weakened walls and trees and not touching blown-down cables. For everyday clear-up, a litter picker and hoop save time and bending. We stock litter picking equipment for exactly this.
7. Check your flood risk
In England you can use the government’s long term flood risk check to see an area’s risk from rivers, the sea, surface water, reservoirs and groundwater. It won’t cover blocked drains, so keeping your own drains clear still matters.
8. Know when to call in help
Anything at height, damaged roofs or structures, large fallen branches and electrical damage should go to someone qualified. If leaves, drains, litter and entrances are stretching your team, our grounds maintenance and cleaning teams work on commercial sites across Liverpool and can take some of it off your hands. Either way, a half-hour walk round now will make the rougher weather ahead much easier to deal with.