Immediate Advice for Businesses as Storm Christoph Hits

1/28/2021 12:00:00 AM

Immediate Advice for Businesses as Storm Christoph Hits

In this Floodlink article, we offer some immediate advice should your business be affected by flood:

Safety

If the water has compromised the electrical safety of your premises, you must employ a qualified electrician to carry out all the necessary safety checks before anyone enters.
If the water has compromised the structure of your premises you need to bring in a qualified surveyor to check.

Communications

Communicate with staff letting them know the details they need to know and what they will have to do in the short term.
Send customers a holding statement until you have firm plans for re-starting your business.
Communicate with suppliers and maybe the local community.

Notifying your landlord

If you do not own your premises you need to notify your landlord immediately to help coordinate their insurance claims process.

Notifying your insurance company

You must inform your insurance company immediately. Most of our insurers will have a special emergency number which will be open 24/7 everyday throughout the year. You can also contact your usual Towergate Advisor who will offer advice and support during a claims process or visit towergate.com/claims

Using a loss adjuster

A loss assessor works on your behalf, handling the entire claim process including buildings, contents and business interruption. You may have Towergate Assist. If you do, this insurance policy covers the cost of an independent loss adjuster to help with the preparation, negotiation and settlement of your claim. If you do not, but think your business could be at risk of flooding, talk to your usual Towergate Advisor.

Business insurance from Towergate

At Towergate we don’t just offer traditional insurance broking: we believe that prevention is better than cure. That is why we have our own risk management consultancy focusing on pre-loss mitigation and business continuity, and have developed our own business interruption calculator.

We engage actively with insurers and our clients to obtain protection for businesses of all sizes. Our wide range of covers help protect your organisation should the worst happen.

See our range of specialist business insurance or contact your local office.

We are passionate about tackling the unprecedented levels of underinsurance in the UK: watch our video on how to avoid this for your business

About the author

Mark Brannon Cert CII is a respected industry leader with over 17 years’ industry experience in a variety of roles within the business insurance sector. He works across a wide spectrum of insurance product and policy development, delivery and optimisation for clients, including claims, insurer relationships, marketing and communications, and risk management.