Do you often ask yourself how you can protect your business from calamity and be resilient when things go wrong?
The world around us is fast-changing. We seem to be exposed more and more to natural disasters ranging from Tsunamis, fire and flood haunting Australia and America as well as other hot spots throughout the world as well as freak hail storms and a whole host of other natural phenomena that wreak havoc here in South Africa.
Furthermore it is not uncommon to read about riots and terrorist attacks in addition to shoot-outs in schools, places of work etc. The latest Charlie Hebdo attack on journalists in Paris illustrates just how things can and will go wrong in the workplace – it is highly unlikely that the journalists who worked at the magazine thought anything more about saying goodbye to their loved ones before going to work that fateful morning – never thinking that they would not return home ever again.
As well as planning for the worst, there are some things we simply cannot foresee which is why it is so important to test your disaster preparedness plan – including having sufficient business insurance cover to prepare for any calamities which might befall you or your place of work.
Be prepared for all eventualities with business insurance:
Provide bank wire instructions to your business insurance company
- In the event of a disaster, normal postal operations may be disrupted (such as the post office strikes of recent times). If you have to evacuate your place of work how will you collect a paper cheque for your insurance claim? Provide your bank wire instructions to your insurance company to ensure that should you ever file a claim, the fund would be electronically deposited into your business bank account. This might seem obvious, but insurance companies still use paper for many transactions.
- Because cash flow is crucial to any business, don’t let postal disruptions delay the deposit of your vital claim pay-out.
The next time you are at the post office
- The next time you visit the post office, remember to take a handful of the “certificate of mailing” receipts and keep then handy in your office or safe at home – use them for a wide range of correspondence with disaster relief agencies and certificates preserving claims that are valuable.
It is a good idea to obtain alternate phone numbers:
- Keep handy phone numbers such as your out-of-country relatives or home numbers for your customers as well as suppliers and employees – compose and email request for this info and send it off immediately should disaster strike.
Last but not least – keep a laminated card with your business insurance numbers, your next of kin your bank etc. in your wallet should something happen and you are unable to furnish these yourself – this will make it easy for medical personnel to reach your loved ones.
When taking out business insurance – ensure that all the above loose ends are tied up in case calamity strikes.
