Flood guidance for small businesses

Contents

1. Intro
2. Prevention
3. Review your insurance
4. What to do in a flood
5. What to do after a flood

As a small business owner, you’re probably an expert on fire regulations, with extinguishers and alarms covering every spare bit of wall space. If you employ staff, you might even have appointed a warden or practised a drill. But did you realise your business is more likely to be flooded than burned down? Water damage can be devastating to your enterprise, particularly if you’re under-insured.

It’s something all small businesses need to take seriously. Floods are now the most common of all disasters and are only set to get worse as climate change takes hold. Take last year for example. The wettest summer since records began led to widespread flooding, affecting 7,000 businesses and leaving many facing financial ruin.

The clean-up operation in flood-hit parts of Britain may be coming to a close, but the threat of flooding hasn’t gone away. The Environment Agency estimates five million people are still at risk.

However, the summer’s problems have provided a wealth of information on what to do should the worst happen again. In fact, the Environment Agency claims that if you take action to prepare for flooding you can save up to 90% on the cost of lost stock and equipment.

So what do you need to do to ensure your business is protected in a flood? MORE TH>N BUSINESS has compiled a guide with everything you need to know. Follow it and find out about:

• Prevention - assess your risk, then formulate a flood plan involving your staff.
• Insurance - use online tools to check you’re adequately insured, then find out how to make a claim.
• What to do in a flood - how to secure your property and keep your business running.
• What to do after a flood - cleaning up your property with the minimum of fuss.