What happens to your business, and your clients, if your records are washed away by floods? Can you reach out to all of your clients if the computer you store their information is destroyed by a fire or stolen? If you are unable to serve your clients for a period due to a governmental order to leave, will your clients wait for you to get back?
Hurricane Irene is a “natural” example in showing all of us what we need to consider when preparing for a natural disaster and the steps we need to take to protect our businesses, our lively-hood. Additionally, we should consider ways that we can help our clients weather the storm.
Most businesses run smoothly and do not encounter losses during their life cycle, but what happens to those that do? A larger percentage than you think do not re-open after a loss. Statistics show, that a number of businesses that have the good fortune to re-open after a loss, close within five years. The question you need to ask yourself, is what can you do to protect your business?
This is not all about insurance, although it is one of the components. Some of the items you should consider are:
INSURANCE – First of all, do you have it? Second, what type of insurance coverage do you have?
COVERAGES
- Building
- Business Personal Property
- Business Income
- Extra Expense
- Rental Income
- Valuable Papers
- Electronic Data Processing
CAUSES OF LOSS
- Fire
- Flood (including excess flood)
- Earthquake
- Theft
RISK MANAGEMENT – Have you put the following into place?
- Contingency plans
- Backup servers
- Pre-arranged locations for use in an emergency
- Data security & backup
- Loss mitigation
In our series of Business Preparedness we will explore the various insurance coverage and risk management plans to consider. However, whether it is business or personal being prepared to survive on your own after an emergency is valuable for everyone to know. What this means is having your own food, water, and other supplies in sufficient quantity to last for at least three days. When a disaster strikes, local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster, but they cannot reach everyone immediately. It might be hours or days before help arrives. In addition, basic services such as electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment, and telephones may be cut off for days, or even a week or longer. For a complete list of recommended items to have in a Emergency Supply Kit visit Ready.Gov
