For those who suffered at the hands of Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank last year, it’s hard to believe that 12 months have passed since they were bombarded, with many still attempting to recover their businesses even to this day with the Association of British Insurers reporting that the overall cost of insurance claims reached £1.3 billion.
Hard to believe too for the insurance industry which saw its ability to support people and businesses in their hour of need stretched to the limit last December.
So what can be done to make things different this time around?
RSA head of commercial property loss adjusting Andy Richardson, who supported commercial customers with insurance claims following the storms last year, believes brokers have an opportunity to advise SME customers on how to protect their businesses and minimise losses – and hopefully limit the chances of another 15,300 insurance claims for flood-damaged properties and 6,600 claims for flood damaged vehicles being made again this year.
“Storms can cause small businesses thousands of pounds’ worth of damage within minutes so the better prepared business owners are ahead of time, the more quickly they will be back up and running,” said Richardson.
“Last year’s flooding in December and January was devastating for communities across the UK and the insurance industry is duty bound to help our customers as best we can. This means helping to limit damage where possible, to support them with their claims and ultimately to get them back in their homes and, in the case of commercial customers, open for business again.
“Brokers understand their commercial customers’ businesses extremely well and are well positioned to offer practical advice to SMEs on how to protect themselves if the weather takes a turn for the worst.”
So what are his suggestions? Here are his five ways in which brokers can better help their SME customers ahead of a downpour:
1.
Identify which customers are most at risk by using geo-mapping technology. These programs assess the likelihood of a flood occurring in a particular geographical location enabling you to use data to assess the risk. Also refer to the Environment Agency website (
https://www.gov.uk/check-flood-risk)] for local flood warnings and at-risk areas.
2.
Make sure your customers have an emergency response plan in place and that all the right people within the business are aware of it. A copy should be stored off site. From laying sandbags to shutting down electricity, make sure your customers know exactly what to do if flooding is likely, especially if they are in an area with known exposure to flooding.
3.
Take pre-emptive measures to protect premises from flood damage. These range from the very simple – such as making sure customers clean their drains on a regular basis – to installing sump pumps in basements at risk of flooding. Other advice includes placing valves on drainage systems as well as flood-gates and barriers, and ensuring sandbags are accessible. Flammable liquid tanks should be anchored to the ground, while underground tanks should be full to reduce buoyancy.
4.
Elevate or move stock and other items to another location. This simple measure could potentially save thousands of pounds in damaged stock as items left on the floor are most likely to be damaged as soon as a flood hits. At the very least SME customers should place items and equipment on pallets to protect them from shallow water ingress.
5.
Remind SME customers that the first 24 hours of a flood are critical to their recovery. Encourage business owners to immediately contact their insurer when a flood hits and suggest they take a short video or photographs of any damage. These can be passed on to their insurer, which in turn will be able to quickly instruct the right specialists to help limit the damage and recovery time.
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