By Joshua Polak, AssuredPartners

Any business that has experienced a significant property damage event can attest to the fact that navigating through the claim process can be challenging. Even when appropriate coverage is in place, managing the communication and documentation necessary can be confusing, time-consuming, and disruptive to business operations.

These challenges can be magnified when a loss is the result of a natural disaster or other widespread event. On top of the usual considerations, a claim arising from a hurricane, earthquake, or other catastrophe will often cause disruptions in communication that may make it difficult to even report a claim to your broker or insurance company.

Fortunately, while it is impossible to predict when such an event may occur, it is relatively easy to take steps to ensure that your business is prepared to meet the challenge by creating a disaster response plan.

Your disaster response plan can provide your organization with a playbook to identify what needs to be done, and who in your organization will handle each aspect of the response.

The first step in creating a disaster response plan is to recognize the various problems that a widespread natural disaster can cause for your business. These challenges may include indefinite interruption of your local operations, disruption of normal internal and external communication, and loss of access to critical documents and data, including your insurance policies. In the worst case scenario, you may not even be able to access your business premises, so it is essential that your key personnel can access the plan even if they cannot access your place of business.

Ensuring that key personnel know their roles and responsibilities, and that they have access to the information and resources to effectively handle their tasks can make a major difference in how efficiently your company can work through the aftermath of a significant claim.

In order to best serve your organization, your disaster plan should, at a minimum, anticipate and include the following:

1. An updated list of emergency contact numbers for employees, customers, suppliers, and distributors, and designated personnel to contact these parties to confirm that all are safe and secure and to determine whether they are directly impacted by the disaster.
2. Protection of vital business records with backup copies of critical data stored at a location separate from your primary business premises.
3. Copies of insurance policies as well as contact information for your broker and insurance carrier.  Ensure that this information can be accessed even if your business premises are inaccessible. If your insurance agent is local, anticipate that they may be impacted by the same catastrophic event and make certain that you have all of the information needed to reach your insurance company directly.

If your business does not already have a formal disaster response plan, you may consider consulting with your agent to see whether they or your insurance carrier can provide you with information and resources to assist you with creating one. If you do have an existing plan, remember to periodically review it to keep it up to date, and consider working with your key personnel to ensure that everyone understands their role in the event of a catastrophic loss.

Proactive planning for disaster response can help your business manage the challenges of a major loss, while failing to plan may jeopardize your organization’s ability to resume operations. It’s never too early to take steps to better insulate your company from the risk of a major claim.

About the Author

Joshua Polak leads the agency claims department for AssuredPartners of Illinois, and he is a member of AssuredPartners’ national Claims Advisory Team.  Joshua has over 20 years of experience handling complex property, liability, and workers’ compensation claims, and specializes in helping clients to navigate the claim process and improve their overall risk management strategy. AssuredPartners is the 10^th largest Insurance Broker and Consultant in the country providing Commercial Insurance, Risk Management, Employee Benefits through consulting and services. For more information on AssuredPartners, please contact Joshua at Joshua.polak@assuredpartners.com or asa@assuredpartners.com