When starting a business many people will think that having the correct type of insurance is the best plan to have in place in case an emergency strikes. Although having insurance is essential, a contingency plan is also another vital measure your business must have as a backup plan. Hopefully your business will never have to deal with issues such as those affecting heating systems, boilers and other important equipment; but it’s for these reasons why a well thought out contingency plan needs to be created.
Unless your business has had to face an emergency in the past, it’s hard to understand why having a contingency plan in place is so important. To put this into perspective, the hotel chain Malmaison, recently faced an issue with their boiler system. The consequence of this saw the chain lose around £60,000 a night; which goes to show why you need to have a ‘plan B’, for difficult times like these.
If you’re a business owner and don’t have a contingency plan, then it’s crucial you start to create one. With this in mind, Ideal Heat Solutions have put together an eBook full of all the information you’ll need, to help you get a backup plan in place, in case your business is faced with an emergency.
How to create a contingency plan?
Although it may sound like a long-winded task, creating a contingency plan can be a lot more straightforward than what you may think. To begin with, you want to outline all of the potential risks which could happen to your business, no matter how small or big they may seem. Once you have compiled the list, then assess how likely each risk is and the impact they could potentially have on your business.
For example, it’s important to consider the lifespan of essential equipment, such as a boiler system. When you look at domestic boilers, these have an average lifespan of around 10-12 years, whereas plant rooms can remain working for around 20-30 years. Although you can use these numbers as a guide, you need to make sure you schedule in routine maintenance work and create a plan in the event of a more serious emergency, where you may need to bring in temporary systems.
One of the final steps to include within your contingency plan, is to outline any parties who will be affected if an emergency does happen. For instance, your employees should be the first people you contact, as well as customers, suppliers, banks, equipment suppliers etc.
Communication is key!
Once your plan is in place, it’s essential you communicate each step to your employees, so they know exactly what will happen if the contingency plan needs to be put into action. Another great way for both you and your employees to familiarise yourself with the plan is to test it as often as possible. This will allow each member of the business to understand their role in detail.
We want to know if this post has helped you and what you thought of the Ideal Heat Solutions eBook. Let us know on social, using #ContingencyAdvice.