Shop Closure and Emergency Response

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The recertification process is a work in progress - this guide isn't yet accurate, please disregard except to give feedback

This policy outlines the response to bad weather or other situations which pose a hazard to staff, volunteer, and/or members traveling to and from the shop or being safe inside the shop.

If at any point a tech, volunteer, or staff member feels it is unsafe to travel to/from the shop or remain in the shop, they are encouraged to take appropriate actions to keep themselves safe.

However, these actions must be communicated ASAP to the #techs Discord or other highly visible space, and NOT just directly to an individual. If at all possible, the decision to reduce or close shop hours must be made with the involvement of volunteer leads and staff - see Shop Closure below.

Hazardous Conditions

We may close the shop or reduce hours to ensure volunteer, staff, and member safety for hazardous conditions such as:

Travel conditions (visibility, ice on roads, snow buildup etc.) elevate the risk of accidents / getting stuck when traveling to/from the shop
Conditions at the shop are hazardous to individuals entering/being in/leaving the shop (e.g. ice on sidewalks, excessive snow blocking entrance/emergency exits)
Conditions at the shop are hazardous to vehicles entering/parked in/leaving the parking lot (e.g. excessive snow and ice buildup, heavy hail in the forecast etc.)
Severe weather is expected to degrade power, water, or HVAC at the shop (e.g. severe thunderstorms, high winds, extreme heat/cold)
Shop facilities have suddenly broken or degraded in a way which is unsafe (e.g. power outage, water leak/outage, gas leak, fire or other emergency)
Sudden loss of shop tech coverage in the shop (epidemic/illness, shock from medical or emergency event)
Other anticipated or sudden threats to the health and safety of people in the shop (e.g. bomb threat, pandemic, active threat/intruder)

Shop Closure

For any action that affects the hours of operation, at least one staff or board member must be involved in the decision.

In urgent situations (sudden change of weather within 4 "business hours") if there is no response from any board/staff member despite posts to Discord, DMs, and calls to staff/board via the emergency escalation chain, then proceed with whatever you believe is needed to keep people safe.

Delayed Start / Early Close / Full Closure

If morning/evening hours must be reduced, take the following steps:

Ask board/staff to decide on closure or educed hours. Common reduced hours are 10am-4pm (AM shift only) for evening hazards and 12pm-6pm (AM or PM shift attending) for recovery from overnight hazards.
Select a volunteer lead, board, or staff member to check the techs calendar to identify the shop techs whose shifts will be impacted by the change, then post on #techs and @-mention all of them by name with the decision.
Select a board or staff member to be the "Incident Commander" and have them read the "Incident Commander" section below.

Emergency Closure

If closure is needed within the same day, take the following steps (skipping any steps which are unsafe):

Select one person in the building to alert all individuals currently in the shop of the change and when they need to leave.
Select one person in the building to watch the front entrance and notify people as they enter the building.
Select one person in the building to post a sign at the front entrance and parking lot entrance notifying of the closure
Select a board or staff member to be the "Incident Commander" and determine whether extended closure is needed (see below)

Incident Commander

This section is guidance for the incident commander ("IC"). As incident commander, you are responsible for the following in order of importance:

Ensure everyone is safe
Ensure everyone knows what's going on
Ensure everyone knows who is responding, in what role, and what actions they're taking
Ensure everyone knows when the incident is over
Ensure a retrospective (i.e. "postmortem") is written for the incident - see this guide

Delegation is key. Do not attempt to do everything yourself. Always delegate to an individual, not to a group.

When you assume the role of IC, immediately do the following:

Announce your new role on the Discord #techs and #leadership channels and to any other individuals involved. Include a link to this wiki page so folks know what's going on.
Select a volunteer lead, board, or staff member to post to the #general discord channel and include @Members to notify everyone of the time of closure, duration of closure, and reason for closure.
Select a board or staff member to email "All Current Members" via Neon CRM's email campaign interface with notification of the current and future state of the shop.
Identify, then announce a secondary person as the point of contact if you are not reachable.

As you respond to the incident:

When you expect to be not reachable, let folks know. If you won't be available for an extended period, hand off the role to the secondary point of contact.
Ensure you are communicating with volunteers, staff, board, and members.
Stay on top of closure announcements, proactively think about when the shop will return to normal operation (hours? days?) and anticipate how that will affect shop tech shifts and member usage of the shop.

When the incident is over:

Write a postmortem and schedule a meeting with board, staff, and volunteer leads to review the document.

Snow, Hail, and Ice Storms

Snow over 1-2" or freezing "black ice" conditions can prevent volunteers from getting to the shop to open up, and create excessive risk to members trying to enter/leave the shop. Heavy snowstorms - even when expected - have overwhelmed Pittsburgh snowplows and emergency responders for up to a week after the weather has ended.

Hail and ice storms in Pittsburgh are generally brief; however, they can cause substantial damage to outdoor people and things.

Light snow up to 1" may require a delayed start to give techs the chance to clear the parking lot, entryway and emergency exits. Salt should be spread with special attention to all stairs/steps to prevent accidents.
Our agreement with a local snowplow contractor requires us to give them notice before they clear the driveway/entryway. If 1" or more of snow or icy conditions are expected, we should call them in (the Shop Manager is the point of contact for this).
When there's 6" or more snow forecast within a 24h period, expect continual disruption to shop hours over the next several days.
If the forecast causes for hail but will not result in icy / hazardous road conditions, follow the notification steps under "Shop Closure" but do not close the shop. Make sure members, volunteers and staff know when hail is likely so they can take appropriate precautions to not hurt themselves or their property (e.g. cars).

Emergency exits (the front door, the forge/parking lot door, rear maintenance corner, and rear woodshop corner) MUST BE ABLE TO OPEN OUTWARDS IF THE SHOP IS NOT CLOSED. The paths immediately outside them must be shoveled and salted to ensure members can exit in emergencies.

Heavy Rain, Severe Thunderstorms and Flooding

Flooding has occurred in our parking lot and on the street in the past (see this Discord message from July 2025). All rain on our roof drains via interior columns into the underground sewer system; when this system overflows, it comes out of the central drain gate in the parking lot and the curbside drain near the entrance to the parking lot. As little as 2 inches of standing water can cause cars to lose traction and begin to hydroplane.

If a sudden burst of rain is expected or happens, the resultant flooding is usually short-lived and does not require closing the shop. However, notice should be posted on Discord and staff/board should be notified so they can monitor the situation.
If extended heavy rain is forecast that could affect driving conditions or lead to extended flooding, board and staff should consider a delayed start or early closure for evening/overnight rains, or a full closure for catastrophic flooding.