Protecting your business for summer floods

Flooding can happen anytime, but we’re often less prepared during the summer months.

With this in mind, we’ve created an easy-to-digest planning guide to assist you if your business premises are affected by floods.

Water damage can impact not only your building and equipment but also your staff and customers. Therefore, it is crucial to plan ahead and minimise the risk of damage as much as possible.

Here are some suggestions to mitigate the risk of flooding

Ultimately, the focus is on minimising damage and ensuring your business can function as “normally” as possible.

• Check the government’s online flood warning service. This free tool can help if your business is at risk of flooding.
• Consider installing flood barriers or sandbags in front of doors and other access points to the building.
• Move electrical devices, important stock and contents to the first floor of your building.
• Check the location of your IT equipment and devices – are they on the ground floor? If so, ensure they are relocated to a higher level in the building as well.
• If any vehicles are parked near the building, make sure that they get moved to an area unlikely to be affected by floods.
• Regularly back up data and software, and store it offsite in a location, not at risk from the same flood event.

Emergency plans

In the event of a flood, it’s essential to keep staff informed as much as possible. Are they familiar with your business continuity plan? Certain employees may have specific roles in what happens next. Your flood plan should be accessible to all and available off-site, just in case.

It should cover several areas, including:

• Whether the business will be closing or not
• Resources available to staff should they become trapped inside the building
• Instructions on what to do about company vehicles
• Information about gas, water, and electricity
• Guidance for contracting customers and suppliers
• Contact details for local authorities and other helpful members

In the aftermath of a flood, as you begin the recovery process, business interruption insurance should cover any financial losses your business suffers.

Plan ahead today

If you have any questions about preparing your business for summer floods, please reach out to us on 01603 626155. Our team is ready to help.