Three steps to ensuring survival for Recycling Companies following a major Fire loss...

There are three key precautions you can take to ensure you keep your business afloat should the worst happen, such as a fire.

Firstly make sure you have the right insurance broker working with you. Do they have real experience of your industry and have they undertaken a proper review with you recently? When did you last review your sums insured, to ensure that they are accurate and that they correctly reflect the basis of cover selected? For example, if you have a policy providing a 'Reinstatement' basis of settlement on your buildings, then you should ensure you are covered for the full Rebuilding cost, otherwise any claim settlement will be reduced accordingly. This can easily be avoided, simply by obtaining an insurance valuation from a Professional valuer who is a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), but most importantly, make sure they also have sight of your policy wording, so they can understand what is included within the definition of 'Buildings' under your policy.

At Konsileo, we regularly arrange these valuations for our customers as part of our service... does your broker?

Secondly you should consider your Risk Management strategies and how your business will continue to trade in the event of either a partial or total loss, or indeed if it will be possible at that point to trade at all. To do this properly, you should really put a proper Business Continuity Plan together? By going through this process you can then establish whether you have adequate insurance cover in place to mitigate against any losses

At Konsileo, we have the experience to be able to help put this together with you... does your broker?

Thirdly, having undertaken your Business Continuity exercise, you should now understand the exposures you business faces. If you don't already have the cover, then Business Interruption insurance can help keep you in business, by covering the increased costs and/or loss of income to the business, whilst you rebuild and get back up on your feet again. Yet all too often this is where businesses get things wrong...

There are two key elements to a Business Interruption policy, which are normally defined in your policy and both are equally as important:

·        the time period for which the interruption will affect the business (known as the indemnity period)

·        the maximum amount that needs to be insured (called the Gross Profit).

If you get either of these wrong then it could prove to be a costly mistake. Under estimate the time needed to get back to the position you were in prior to the loss and even if you get the amount to insure correct, you could be left out of pocket, or even out of business for that matter!

At Konsileo we have a specialist team of expert industry experienced staff, who will ask all the right questions, in order to establish the appropriate level of cover to protect your business.

Protect your business properly with Konsileo - the Business Resilience Experts. We're more than just a Broker!

If you want to do things properly, so that if in the unfortunate event that you do suffer a loss, your insurance policy doesn't just become an 'Expense piece of Paper' then do please get in touch.

Tim Rogers

Tel: 07827 457464 or email: timrogers@konsileo.com