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Determining How Well-Prepared Your Business Is for a Disaster | SERVPRO® of Cedar Mill/Oak Hills
3/19/2020 (Permalink)
If you are the owner of a business, it is wise to make sure you are as prepared as possible for an unforeseen emergency or disaster in order to protect your investment. To kickstart this process, we recommend that business owners first assess where your preparedness levels are so you can better understand where to improve them.
Being aware of several key factors can let you know exactly how prepared you are for an emergency. First, understanding your insurance coverage will let you know if additional policies are required to protect you. From there, making sure you have a plan in place, both for in the moment and for recovery can keep you safe and make restoration go as quickly as possible.
Your Commercial Insurance Coverage
There are many various things that a commercial insurance policy will cover, but often in the case of disasters, their coverage alone is not sufficient. Talk with your insurance agent about where your policy might be lacking—businesses not being covered against flooding is the most common issue, but there is also the option to buy umbrella coverage and interruption insurance to make sure you are fully protected.
If a weather emergency is on the way or a disaster such as a fire breaks out, there are generally a scarce few minutes to react. Therefore, putting a plan in place will help you make the most of the time you have. Plan for any potential threat that may present itself, and provision for situations where evacuation is the best course of action as well as situations where you may need to remain in the office and survive off an emergency kit until help arrives.
Limiting the time your business has to spend closed due to recovery is the best way to avoid excessive losses due to a lack of income. Deciding in advance what restoration company to use is a big factor in this because it will allow you to make the call right away when you discover damage to your property. Additionally, research if you qualify for disaster assistance loans from the Small Business Administration to help cover some of these costs at a reduced interest rate.
If your business has been impacted by a disaster, you can contact us 24⁄7 for guidance on how to begin the commercial restoration process.