With the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy approaching this week and thousands of people still struggling to rebuild, SEI New York would like to share important lessons learned from our experiences:
1. Confirm your business is covered with proper insurance for flood & wind damage, spoilage and business interruption.
2. Even if you’re a business owner many stories above the street level you still need flood insurance. If a flood is determined to be the cause of loss and you do not have flood coverage, your business owner’s or property policy will probably not provide the coverage.
3. Have a contingency plan in place. Know your insurance company’s contact information. Know how to get in touch with your generator company, remediation company, where you’re going to stay in an emergency, keep track of phone chargers, etc…
4. Do you need spoilage coverage? Prepare and plan for items that can spoil if power is lost. We had many doctors who had spoilage coverage to cover vaccines in their refrigerators. Our supermarkets had refrigerated trailers with generator contracts in place prior to the storm.
5. Does your company have business interruption coverage? Let us explain the different types of triggers for business interruption such as off premises power failure or utility service coverage and how it pertains to your business.
We hope these important tips can help you make the preparations that will protect your business from similar natural disasters. If you or a friend would like to review any of your current policies or have questions about a new policy, please feel free to contact our team at 1-877-237-2481.
