Author: Courtney Glancy
Published on: 05/19/2026
Categories: Hazardous Waste, Resource, Safety & Health
From Impact to Action: TREEO’s Approach to Post-Storm Safety and Recovery
When Cindy Mercado, TREEO Solid Waste Program Manager and Safety & Health Instructor, was invited to speak at the Florida Chamber’s Leadership Conference on Safety, Health and Sustainability in May, the session title she proposed wasn’t about theory or policy. It was “From Impact to Action: A Safety Driven Approach to Post-Storm Recovery,” and the choice wasn’t accidental.
Florida doesn’t need to be convinced that storms are dangerous. What workers and organizations genuinely need is clarity on what comes after the wind stops. That window between a storm’s landfall and the return to normal operations is where people get hurt. And too often, it’s where safety falls short.
Cindy has a plain-language way of describing where that failure lives: “We’re good at making plans, but not always good at executing them.” On paper, a lot of organizations have strong emergency response plans. They look great. But when a real emergency hits, things don’t always go the way the plan says they will.
The Danger Isn’t Always the Storm Itself
Ask most people what they fear about a hurricane, and they’ll describe the storm surge, the wind, the flooding. Those are real and deadly hazards. But some of the most preventable injuries and fatalities in the aftermath of a storm happen after the skies have cleared.
Post-storm recovery is a chaotic environment. Debris is everywhere. Utilities are compromised. Adrenaline is high and judgment is impaired. Workers who would never skip a safety check under normal conditions are suddenly moving fast, under pressure, in unfamiliar conditions with unfamiliar tools — often with no formal training for what they’re doing.
Throughout the presentation, Cindy referenced OSHA’s Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs as a foundational framework for understanding and managing these types of recovery hazards.
The hazards that tend to be most underestimated include:
- Carbon monoxide poisoning from generators placed too close to structures
- Electrocution from downed lines or flooded electrical panels
- Falls during debris removal and roof assessment
- Chainsaw injuries from untrained volunteer and emergency workers
- Heat illness, which compounds every other risk when workers are exhausted and dehydrated
The presentation also emphasized that many post-disaster risks are not immediately obvious. Recovery workers may also face chemical exposure from hazardous substances and poor ventilation, biological hazards like mold and contaminated materials after flooding, physical hazards such as excessive noise or radiation sources, and ergonomic strain from repetitive lifting, overhead work, and vibration-heavy equipment. Over the course of a prolonged recovery effort, these less visible hazards can quietly compound fatigue, injury risk, and long-term health impacts.
What TREEO Trains For and Why It’s Different
TREEO’s role in Florida’s safety ecosystem is straightforward: providing practical, applied training that helps organizations prepare before a storm and respond effectively after one. TREEO educates across industries and sectors, from utilities and large corporate operations to public agencies and field-based workforces. The common thread isn’t the industry. It’s the need for safety training that actually holds up when conditions get difficult.
TREEO’s post-storm training programming is built around three principles:
- Readiness before the storm hits: Safety training shouldn’t begin in the parking lot after landfall. TREEO’s approach starts with pre-event preparedness: helping organizations identify their roles in disaster response, understand their liability, and equip their people with the knowledge to act safely when systems are strained.
- Scenario-based, applied learning: Post-storm conditions can’t be replicated in a classroom, but they can be simulated. TREEO training emphasizes decision-making under pressure, hazard recognition in non-standard environments, and the kind of practical skills that translate directly to the field.
- Training that reaches the people who need it most: Whether an organization has a dedicated safety team or is building one, training should be designed around how that workforce actually operates: the environments they work in, the roles they fill, and the scenarios they’re most likely to face. TREEO’s approach is to meet organizations where they are and build from there, not deliver a one-size-fits-all curriculum.
“A plan by itself is just a piece of paper. Execution takes more than a document — it takes practice, drills, clear communication, and relationships between workplaces, emergency responders, and community volunteers built before a disaster happens. Because you can’t build a team in the middle of a crisis.” – Cindy Mercado, Program Manager, TREEO Center
What Cindy sees repeatedly is a recognizable pattern: roles that aren’t clearly understood, teams that haven’t trained together, communication that becomes complicated under pressure, and expertise that exists within the organization or community but was never formally incorporated into the planning process. The result, more often than not, is a slower and more difficult recovery than it needed to be.
TREEO’s training model is designed to address those gaps through interactive exercises, applied drills, and the deliberate work of building cross-organizational relationships before they’re needed.
One example highlighted during the presentation was a tabletop exercise conducted at the end of Cindy’s session. The scenario simulated the realities organizations face immediately after a severe weather event, including flooded streets, downed power lines, possible gas leaks, limited resources, and vulnerable community members requiring assistance. Participants worked through assigned operational roles while identifying hazards, assessing risk, coordinating communication, and making safety-focused decisions in real time.
Cindy emphasized that exercises like these are core to TREEO’s training philosophy, allowing organizations to practice decision-making before an emergency occurs. Professionals from The Walt Disney Company and The Coca-Cola Company described her tabletop exercises as fundamental to strengthening their operational preparedness and emergency response efforts.
What Florida Organizations Should Do Now
Post-storm safety planning works best as a year-round practice, not something that gets pulled out when a storm is named. Cindy’s guidance for organizations of any size or sector is consistent:
- Audit your plan for execution gaps, not just content. Does everyone understand their role? Have they practiced it? If the answer is no, the plan isn’t ready.
- Train together, not just separately. Emergency response breaks down at the seams between organizations. Drills and exercises that bring multiple teams into the same room — or the same scenario — are where real preparedness gets built.
- Identify your experts now. Most organizations have access to people with relevant expertise — in-house, through partners, or in the broader community. Mapping those relationships ahead of time means they’re ready to activate when they’re needed.
- Build communication structures that hold under pressure. Clear protocols and established chains of contact make decision-making faster and more consistent when conditions are anything but.
Organizations that do this work consistently fare better in the aftermath of a disaster — not just in safety outcomes, but in how quickly they recover operationally. Preparation isn’t just a safety investment. It’s a business continuity investment.
From Conference to the Field: What’s Coming Next
Cindy’s session at the Florida Chamber conference wasn’t just a moment to share what TREEO knows. It was a reflection of a broader commitment TREEO is acting on right now.
On May 26, TREEO is hosting a customized emergency response training, bringing together some of the most experienced voices in post-disaster preparedness in the state.
The session will feature representatives from FlaWARN and the American Red Cross, bringing together expertise in infrastructure recovery, emergency coordination, and community support. Together, they’ll address both the operational and human sides of disaster response: restoring critical services while protecting the people doing the work.
This isn’t a one-time event for a single audience. While this particular session was developed as a customized training, the curriculum is something TREEO can bring to any organization interested in building real emergency preparedness capacity. If your team works in utilities, public health, environmental services, or any field-based role where a storm changes everything overnight — this training was built for you.
The Bottom Line
Post-storm safety is a topic TREEO knows well, and one we think every Florida organization deserves practical guidance on, regardless of size or sector. If you’re looking to strengthen your emergency response training or build out a preparedness program that actually holds up in the field, we’d welcome the conversation.
Interested in bringing emergency response training to your organization? Visit our Safety and Health program page to learn more, or contact Melissa Hamilton at melissajhamilton@treeo.ufl.edu to discuss training options for your team.