Are You Prepared for the Real Cost of Christmas? – Top Tips
With just a few weeks
to go until Christmas, your business should
be getting prepared for the holiday break;
including making sure your business is
adequately protected against loss and
interruption.
Research by Lloyds TSB
Insurance has found that more than a quarter
of small businesses are at risk by having
inadequate business cover.
Phil Loney, managing director of Lloyds TSB Insurance said, “It is
important that SMEs plan for the Christmas
shutdown by considering the risks their
business faces and the impact these can have
on trading. We strongly advise business
owners to consider business interruption
insurance to cover any loss of revenue
should they be forced to suspend trading.”
Often the biggest risk that businesses face
over the Christmas shutdown is crime and
damage to premises. Phil Loney continued,
“If your office is going to be closed over
the break, think seriously about the
security of your premises and any company
vehicles. Crimes against small businesses
can be very costly, so owners should seek
extra security measures to minimise risks.
“To help minimise any risks, we’d advise
business owners to talk to their insurance
company who can advise on minimum security
requirements or exclusions to policies. It’s
also worth bearing in mind that the
installation of security technology such as
alarms could lead to a reduction in
insurance premiums.”
Lloyds TSB Insurance
also included some top tips for businesses
to ensure this Christmas doesn’t cause any
serious risks to trading:
- Make a
comprehensive list of all your business
assets and review your insurance policy
to ensure that you have adequate cover
should anything happen
- It may sound
obvious but ensure that all internal and
external doors are closed and locked
- Check all windows
are closed and ensure valuable items are
out of sight
- Check your
security alarms are in working order and
that someone is contactable in the event
of a crisis
- Be careful what
message you put on your answerphone and
on email auto-responses - advertising
you are closed is an invitation to
burglars
- Create contingency
plans for dealing with all the major
crises. Many insurance companies will
reduce your premiums if you have a
contingency plan in place
- List everything
that you think could possibly go wrong
and decide who will be affected in every
eventuality and how these risks could be
minimised. It’s vital that copies of
these documents are kept off-site, along
with useful numbers and details of your
insurance policies, in case your
premises are destroyed
- Programme your
heating system to come on for a few
hours a day whilst your premises are
unoccupied in order to prevent pipes
freezing and cracking
- Update or create a
database of key contacts in case of an
emergency
- Back up your data.
Make copies of CDs, disks, tapes and
paper information and store off site in
an appropriate place according to
material i.e. certain fire proof safes
will protect paper stored, however,
disks and tapes can be destroyed through
heat damage at a much lower temperature
Our list of 16 Things You Need to do Before
Christmas is available here.
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