How can fire cause business interruptions and other impacts

1. How can fire cause business interruptions and other impacts?
08
Mar
How can fire cause business interruptions and other impacts?
 By Jason Challenger  0 Comments
Fire is one of the primary causes of business interruption around the world. And in the UK, according to the
Association of British Insurers, roughly 60% of private businesses that experience a re never recover. Several recent
res have hit the headlines, including the Ocado warehouse re in Andover, which took four whole days to
extinguish. And yet, despite the high pro le incidents and the obvious devastation that can result from re, many
businesses are still not taking the threat seriously enough.
Why is fire a threat?
There are obvious risks to human life from re and this can have very negative consequences for brand perception
and reputation if not prevented. However, there is also the impact of re on the ability that the business has to
continue to trade to consider. Fires in the UK contribute to £8 billion of damage to homes and businesses on an
annual basis – that’s why more than half of businesses a ected by re simply don’t recover afterwards. Even with
insurance many struggle, as premiums can become punitively expensive. After a re, insurers will increase
premiums for those a ected – you only have to look at California to see evidence of this where, in the wake of
wild res and subsequent insurance claims, complaints about premium hikes increased by 217%.
How can a fire interrupt business continuity?
There are a number of ways that this can happen, including:
Inaccessible premises
If premises are inaccessible then the business may simply not be able to trade, resulting in lost revenue. This
doesn’t only a ect public facing businesses that rely on passing trade but any business where the premises are
necessary for business activities.
Reputational damage
Reputational damage when clients or customers become aware that your company is not functioning from its usual
premises. Even with temporary accommodation, many businesses nd that customer attrition rates shoot up as
expectations of service or delivery plummet.
The cost of temporary interruption
Even if you have insurance in place it may take time to move into temporary premises and get systems up and
running. That delay can be costly.
Data issues
For those organisations storing data on site, a re that wipes this out – in particular where there is no o site back
up - can be devastating.
Protecting against business interruption
Any re prevention strategy should include the kind of passive re protection measures that are designed to avoid
business interruption. These work to help slow down destruction of property and premises, allowing people time to
escape and providing more opportunity for the emergency services to intervene.
From re walls and re stopping through to cable coating and re resistant glass, there are multiple options for
integrating passive re protection safeguards that provide a way to slow down the impact of re, making it less
devastating. The end result is that – in combination with other re protection measures – passive re protection
ensures business interruption can be minimised.
If you’d like to discuss your business’ passive re protection needs we can help – contact us to nd out more.
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 Author
Jason Challenger
About Us
Hillmoore Fire Protection Limited are
specialist contractors for all forms of
passive re protection. The ethos and
aim of Hillmoore is to provide our
clients with an un-rivalled service for
the Design, Supply and Installation of
all passive re protection
requirements, be it within a new build,
refurbishment or upgrading project, or
as part of the change of use of a
property.
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methods
Jul 16, 2018
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relying on a re protection company?
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implement passive re protection
measures?
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