Emergency Response Program | Dalworth Restoration

Nobody knows when disaster might strike because you are usually a victim of something beyond your control, such as:

• A fire started by an electrical short in a downed power line
• An overnight flood from a leaking water tank or a leak in your roof during a storm
• A car whose impaired driver crashed into your office or home

Regardless of the cause of your mishap, it pays to be prepared – to have developed an Emergency Response Program. While Dalworth Restoration prepares in-depth programs for clients, here are some ways you can prepare yourself in case of a fire, water or smoke mishap:

1. Install redundancy to ensure someone has a copy of your plan. After all, you, your COO and your top administrative executive might be unavailable, either because of travel or due to injury from your mishap. Make sure at least FIVE (5) people other than you have access to this Emergency Response Plan by emailing it to those five people and placing it on your company’s main server, so it is accessible.
2. Prepare a list of key vendors who might be called in to help respond. The list should include name, mobile phone number, email address and other information on your general contractor, whoever may have performed all remodels, your electrician, HVAC contractor, plumber, and roofer. And, of course, your insurance agent along with the insurance company name(s) and policy numbers for all potentially involved insurance contracts. Additional contacts will be your city’s water utility as well as your electric and gas providers, security system operator and sprinkler company, elevator service, phone system provider, glass company and janitorial service.
3. Test your system by role-playing and confirm that each of the designated leaders knows how and where to access the information.
4. Define up front your chain of command -- who the leaders are, particularly if one or more of the top company officials are not available. Chaos ensues when there is not a defined chain of command that everyone understands and respects. These normally include top officers, the owner, director of operations, IT director, customer care manager, public relations official and risk management specialist.
5. Define who will speak on behalf of the company to law enforcement, insurer, insurance agent, claims adjustors, and (potentially) the media if the event is large in impact. This person must know to tell the truth but NOT to speculate on what happened or who was involved, particularly with the media.
6. Determine who needs to be notified in case of a loss to ensure you are managing the situation responsibly. These may include your insurance agent, attorney, banker and any other major lender or entity with something at stake in case of damage to your company.

For more information on creating an Emergency Response Plan, please contact

Josh Hobbs at Dalworth Restoration: josh@dalworth.com or 817-203-2944.