Tag: business continuity

flooding in a town - flood insurance

Business continuity advice: preparing for summer storms

Gareth Rowett

While weather forecasting has improved significantly throughout the years, there is still little warning of when and where localised flash flooding may take place.

Recent heatwaves (and more extreme conditions) have intensified flooding throughout Europe and the UK. While climate change may be largely to blame, overtaxed drainage systems and inadequate risk management strategies have led to catastrophic damage for both residential and commercial properties.

Risk management is an essential part of any effective business. What steps can you take to enhance your preparedness and account for possible insurance risks?

Flash flooding in Europe

Even climate scientists are shocked by the scale of recent summer floods in Germany. In an area that usually sees 80 litres of rainfall in the entire month of July, 148 litres per square metre fell in just 48 hours in parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine- Westphalia. Switzerland documented their heaviest rainfall on record, after a Zurich thunderstorm saw 4cm falling overnight. This led to flash flooding, logistical issues and travel chaos in the city and its surrounds.

UK flash floods

Closer to home, west London was hit by severe flooding in early July 2021. Water rushed towards the platforms at Sloane Square station, barriers were erected in Chalk Farm and Hampstead, Euston station was closed, and in Primrose Hill people were seen swimming in ponds created by thunderstorms.

While climate change is largely to blame, overtaxed drainage systems exacerbate the problem. Thus was the case for the Gough family who saw their new home submerged after unexpected flash flooding in Dorset. They believe that the damage was caused by inadequate drainage maintenance.

These systems not only reduce peak water levels, but give communities affected by flooding, more time to prepare for the worst. While the consequences for residential properties can be personally tragic, the outcomes for commercial properties can be catastrophic, for both you and your employees.

In addition to physical flood damage to the premises itself, losses can also incur from business interruption and damage to stock, equipment, fixtures and fittings and general contamination. The effects on business continuity cannot be understated, a flood can be devastating.

Flood preparation

According to Insurance company QBE, “planning in advance and taking a few sensible precautions could save disruption and money, should the worst occur”. As part of your overall business continuity plan, some of the measures that they suggest include:

·         Not storing stock directly on the floor. Even raising it by 100mm can make a big difference

·         If you can, avoid storing stock/objects directly under valley gutters. If not, then try and store lower value, less vulnerable goods in these areas

·         Check that normal surface water drains and other flow routes are unobstructed

·         Electrical, electronic, and other sensitive equipment may be directly under potential water entry points. In the short term, think how you can protect it; in the longer term, ask yourself if this is the correct location for it.

Consider cellars, basements, trenches, pits, loading docks and other low-lying areas. After an extended dry period, water run off paths may be significantly different from the usual routes. If you have had any incidence of water ingress before, then be prepared with sandbags, flood barriers or similar solutions.

Protect yourself with flood insurance

While many flooding incidents cannot be prevented, proper preparation, risk management strategies and adequate insurance can help to mitigate the physical and financial fallout, including loss of income. All business owners need to take account of these risks as part of the effective operation of your business.

At Rowett Insurance, we can help you to find the right level of cover for you, call our team on 01726 871144.

busy people walking inside an office

What Does Business Resilience Mean To You?

Gareth Rowett

Did you know that nearly 1 in 5 UK businesses suffer a major disruption once a year? Change is inevitable and it’s impossible to predict what’s around the corner. Over the past few years, UK businesses alone have faced Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and most recently, the cost-of-living crisis. How prepared was your business for these events? Is there anything that you would change if you had to face something similar again?

Managing change isn’t easy, but with processes and workflows in place that set out what your business should do in the face of a major disruptive event, organisations have a better chance of continuing to operate through turbulent times. We look at what your business needs to do to become more resilient to disruptive events, helping you to make the right choices among the chaos. 

What is business resilience?

The term ‘business resilience’ describes a business’s ability to adapt to, and continue to operate under, unforeseen disruption. This can include natural disasters, economic disrepair and major supply chain failures. To become resilient, a business should have a series of holistic management processes – or a ‘business resilience plan’ in place for the ‘what ifs’ – changes that have the potential to cause significant disruption to the day-to-day running of your business.

For example:

  • What if your business is affected by a flood or fire?
  • What if your energy supply was interrupted for a day? What if it was a week?
  • What if your business was targeted by a cyberattack, resulting in a data breach?
  • While it’s impossible to predict exactly what the future holds, by having a series of processes in place, your business will be better prepared should disaster strike.

Creating a business resilience plan

There are several stages to building a business resilience plan, including:

Analysis – Conducting a full risk evaluation to determine your priorities, how these would be impacted by key disruptions and how much time you would have before the situation became critical. At this stage, you should consider your resources and what is realistic for your organisation.

Design and Implementation – Consider the processes and strategies required for your business to correctly respond to and recover from the key disruptions above. These processes will need to account for areas such as business processes, who is responsible for what, backup arrangements and emergency contacts. Consider how will these be presented – will they be heavily detailed or set out as a series of checklists?

Testing – It’s crucial that you immediately test your plans for any gaps or discrepancies, you can do this using walkthrough exercises or by using online or physical simulations. You can then tweak the processes based on your findings.

Business resilience and insurance

While creating a business resilience plan can make the difference between a company surviving unexpected events or not, for many, being truly resilient as a business means much more than simply having a Business Continuity Plan in place.

Part of ensuring your business is resilient is making sure that you have the right insurance in place. From Business Interruption cover to Cyber Insurance, these policies are all geared to ensuring that you have financial support should disaster strike. Without the right foundations, your business could be in trouble from the offset.   

To make sure you get this right, at Rowett Insurance Broking Limited, we know insurance inside and out and can help you shape a policy that mitigates the risks that your business faces. To find out more about how we can help your business, just get in touch on 01726 871144 option 3 or visit our dedicated commercial insurance pages.