Summer Climate Risks: What Should Your Business Consider?

Start by identifying the exposures that may be most relevant to your business. Consider questions such as:

• Do you have employees working outdoors or in non climate controlled areas?
• Is your facility located near flood prone zones, storm corridors, or wildfire risk areas?
• Do you rely on cooling systems, temperature sensitive equipment, or technology that can’t tolerate power fluctuations?
• Does humidity or prolonged heat impact your materials, equipment, or production?

Effective summer preparedness often involves considering impacts to your people, your operations, and your property. If you’re unsure where to begin, we help with a seasonal risk review to help identify areas where you may be most vulnerable.

Establish a clear Emergency Response Plan. However, a plan alone may not be enough if it cannot be executed effectively. Before the season ramps up, consider reviewing your emergency and business continuity plans are up to date and workable.

Your plan may address areas such as:

• Who makes decisions during an event
• How work changes during heat waves, storms, or air-quality alerts
• What steps supervisors take ahead of severe weather
• How you respond to failures in cooling, power, or communication

Then test the plan:

• Run a tabletop exercise before the season ramps up
• Evaluate how fast and effectively your team can make decisions under pressure, not just how well the plan is written.
• Confirm frontline supervisors understand expectations

Climate related events develop quickly, and communication breakdowns are often a contributing factor in business disruption.

Many organizations may benefit from:

• A reliable way to rapidly notify employees, customers and other key stakeholders
• Backup communication options in case of outages
• Clear protocols for escalating decisions
• A few pre approved messages ready for heat advisories, storms, or air quality alerts
• Several ways to communicate, including phone, email, text and social media as appropriate

When conditions change quickly, clarity and speed may matter more than perfection.

Some losses tied to summer weather are not caused by extreme events but by gaps in basic operational preparedness. Even smaller events — a sudden downpour, a brief wind gust, a short power surge — can cause significant loss if you’re unprepared.

If your operations are in a high-risk area, consider these key steps in advance:

• Securing outdoor materials or equipment
• Inspecting areas vulnerable to water intrusion or drainage problems
• Making sure critical equipment has adequate cooling and surge protection
• Confirming backup power sources are functional
• Ensuring all data is securely backed up to a cloud-based server or off-site location

Major losses often begin as small, preventable gaps. Organizations that pay attention to early warning signs — minor leaks, brief outages, equipment strain — may be better positioned to respond than those waiting for a major event. 

As severe weather events become more frequent, it can be helpful to review your insurance coverage before summer risk peaks. Consider working with your Acrisure client advisor to confirm whether your policies continue to align with your current exposures and operations.

Key coverages organizations often evaluate include:

• Property Insurance
• Flood Insurance
• Earthquake Insurance
• Business Interruption
• Builder’s Risk
• Inland Marine
• Workers’ Compensation
• Auto Liability
• General Liability

Taking time now to review your coverage can help support your people, operations, and assets if a natural disaster occurs. Your Acrisure client advisor can help you identify potential gaps and discuss options that may help address organizational exposure. 

Your employees often serve as the first line of response during any summer event. Clear direction can help support confidence and reduce the likelihood of incidents.

Employees should understand:

• What to do when heat index or air-quality thresholds are met
• How to adjust work when storms or lightning are nearby
• When to report concerns, and to whom
• Why safety adjustments are essential, not optional

Prepared teams can often respond faster, make informed decisions, and help reduce operational risk.

Extreme heat is a hazard that many businesses may encounter during summer months. 

Heat can affect more than physical safety. It can also impact judgment, reaction time, and decision-making. Fatigue and heat stress can contribute to missed steps, slower responses, and poor decisions which may allow smaller issues to escalate into more serious incidents.

Key practices may include:

• Accessible hydration: The easier and more visible water access is, the better.
• Strategic scheduling: Favor cooler morning hours and build in regular shade or recovery breaks.
• Environmental support: Add shade, cooling stations, or climate controlled break spaces.
• Real time awareness: Monitor heat index and air quality, not just temperature.
• Empowered workforce: Encourage employees to speak up in the event of heat stress, and train supervisors to respond quickly.

On April 10,2026, the U.S. Department of Labor updated OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on indoor and outdoor heat-related hazards to better focus inspections and outreach on industries where heat stress risks are greatest. Using data from 2022–2025, OSHA identified 55 high-risk industries and refined its guidance, enforcement approach, and inspection triggers, including heat advisory and warning days. 

The updated program strengthens OSHA’s ability to help prevent heat-related illnesses and fatalities through targeted enforcement, outreach, and compliance assistance and will remain in effect for five years. Learn more about the updated heat emphasis program.