If your business is destroyed and you only have actual cash value coverage, you may not be in a position to completely rebuild. Give yourself more time than usual to prepare your emergency food, water, and medicine supplies. For information, quotes or coverage availability, please contact your local independent agent representing Cincinnati Insurance. These clips are made from carbon steel or stainless steel and can be used to secure plywood. How to Prepare Your Building for Natural Disasters. Check roof protrusions such as vents, skylights, signs, equipment, and pipes for damage, tightness, and bracing. Act Like The Hurricane’s Going To Hit Your Community Head On. Even with a few days' notice, it takes an enormous effort to adequately prepare various elements of your building such as the roof, windows and doors, and other exterior elements. Remove the permit board and all jobsite signage. Call the contractor or supplier to halt delivery or reroute to a safe location. "I said from the beginning, we have to have a concrete house," said King. The author assumes no responsibility for management or control of loss control activities. Plus, they can be reused year after year. Use IBHS’ free EZ-PREP severe weather emergency preparedness and response planning toolkit with checklists that can be customized for your company to be sure you have a well-organized plan and are ready to respond when disasters occur. Before a storm, check these units to make sure they are properly installed and will be able to resist wind-driven rain. Stay tuned to weather alerts via radio, TV or social media and evacuate as soon as local authorities give the word. The Weather Service has even created a set of six hurricane preparedness videos to help illustrate these points. Secure or remove all flammable tanks and bottles. Be careful when walking in standing water, which may contain sharp or jagged objects. It’s important to have an evacuation plan in place for your construction site. Now that we are in the midst of a hurricane season with a future relatively unknown to building owners, it is important to revisit precautions to increase your facility’s chance of survival before, during and after the storm. In Mississippi, for example, it would cost $3,000 to $5,000 more to build an 1,800-square-foot home to gold standards versus basic code standards, according to the IBHS. If you live in coastal areas where these storms regularly occur, seriously consider investing in hurricane shutters. Commercial flood coverage is available from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and provides up to $500,000 in building coverage and $500,000 for contents. Hurricane season is no joke and the Boy Scout rule to be prepared most definitely applies. Hurricane Preparation Materials and Equipment: Consider keeping hard copies of contact lists, plans and other important documents in a safe place. If these are not available, then opt to board up any sort of glass exposures. Materials and debris can become projectiles, water can easily flood the building structure and expensive equipment may be lost or damaged. Keep your supplies in an easy-to-carry emergency-preparedness kit that you can use at home or take with you in case you must evacuate. We want to hear from you. Now that you’ve secured or removed materials and equipment, it’s time to defend the structure. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Be certain to keep in contact with local emergency operations officials and the National Weather Service for the most up-to-date hurricane landfall probabilities. AUSTIN, Texas – Having the proper supplies on hand is key to being prepared during this year’s hurricane season, which lasts through the end of November. If your home has a brick or stucco exterior, the process of boarding up your windows will look a bit different. Keep an eye out for these trees, and avoid them at all costs, The Orpheum Theatre in Memphis Has a Resident Ghost, Plan a Road Trip to Lexington, Kentucky, for Spectacular Fall Foliage, Gatlinburg’s SkyLift Park is Now Dog-Friendly, Augusta, Georgia, Named "Most Neighborly" City in America, Southern Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. Learn how to look beyond trade skills to hire the best roofing employees. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria caused significant damage in 2017, and communities are still recovering. Let’s get started. This person will put the plan in motion and assign emergency responsibility roles. Your roofing crew can make or break your business. Use IBHS’ free OFB-EZ (Open for Business) business continuity planning tool to create a plan that focuses on recovering after the initial emergency response. Don’t wait for the last minute to protect your project from an approaching hurricane. While there is no such thing as a hurricane-proof home, there are levels of resistance, and levels of investment. In other states it would cost more to get to Gold, but it would still not be cost-prohibitive, according to Rettig. Those that do sell for 7% more, according to a University of Alabama study. Prepare for a hurricane: Take basic steps now to ensure your safety should a storm hit. Lower all ground-based crane booms and properly secure. All that foam, it's new, that happened last month. No matter how many warnings or mandatory evacuations are issued, people are going to stay behind — this may even include you. In addition to backing up computer data, keep other critical information off site such as your insurance policies, banking information and phone numbers of employees, key customers, vendors and suppliers, your insurance professional and others. New technologies coupled with IoT devices will be used to implement protocols, enhance on-premise safety and hygiene, and offer more connectivity options to remote and on-site workers. Inspect your roof and prioritize any repairs that need to be made. Take down and secure other signs, banners, or flags that promote your business by bringing them indoors. Even before the concrete pillars were poured, they had hurricane wind-resistance not just in mind, but in every aspect of the design. Prepare for a hurricane: Take basic steps now to ensure your safety should a storm hit. Have dehumidifiers and fans available to dry out the space. Any descriptions are a brief summary of coverage and are not part of any policies, nor a substitute for the actual policy language. June marks the official start of hurricane season in the U.S., and after years of increasingly powerful storms wreaking record destruction, homeowners and builders are looking intensely at ways to fortify their homes. It’s important to have the right gear on hand to secure equipment and cover incomplete structures before a storm comes your way. BEFORE THE HURRICANE HITS. If you only check the condition of your roof before a hurricane is forecasted, you may end up discovering that there are more repairs that need to made than you possibly have time for. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. ©Copyright 2020 Stamats Communications, Inc. All rights reserved / BUILDINGS, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), Pandemic Tests Resiliency of Buildings and Business Continuity Plans. The home sits 12 feet above the ground and is anchored 28 feet into the ground. Buildings under construction are at high risk of catastrophic damage during a hurricane. homeowners and builders are looking intensely at ways to fortify their homes, arying levels of resistance and investment, Climate change will crush real estate values for investors, Millions of homes are underinsured against natural disasters, This fire-resistant home is the next line of defense against climate change, homeowners mistakenly believe that it is wildly expensive. Once the National Weather Service issues a Hurricane Watch, it’s time to prepare your job site for the storm ahead. Southern Living is a registered trademark of, 70 Cute and Funny Nicknames For Your Best Friends, 20 Easy and Delicious Sunday Dinner Recipes, 33 Things to Write in a Wedding Card If You’re Not Sure What’s Appropriate, 12 Trees You Shouldn't Plant in Your Yard. Unlike tornadoes, earthquakes, and flash floods, hurricane forecasts allow individuals in affected areas more time to evacuate or take shelter. Just as you would prepare your home and family for an impending hurricane, you’ll also want to prepare your construction job sites. "I wouldn't describe it as cost prohibitive," said Lance Rettig, executive director with Habitat for Humanity in Panama City, Florida. Use the same care when entering a building after a storm; depending on the extent of the damage, some structural elements could be compromised. Hurricane preparedness is essential for a safe construction site. Reduce windborne debris such as gravel on walkways or parking lots, landscaping features, and nearby trees or shrubs. Buildings under construction are at high risk of catastrophic damage during a hurricane. Use 4-inch barrel bolts to secure the panels and space them 15 inches apart. Now, seven months later, despite his success, King says his precautions didn't go far enough. Try insulation board, oriented strand board, or polycarbonate panels instead. The Cincinnati Life Insurance Company provides life insurance and fixed annuities. These Sunday dinner ideas are crowd-pleasers and make for hearty leftovers, Whether fried, pickled, or grilled, no other vegetable tastes quite like okra. A safe room is a fortified shelter for storms or intrusions. "I want poured concrete walls because I felt like it had a better chance of fighting the storm.". Florida's standard is the highest mandatory code in the nation. Developing a plan well before a storm arrives also gives employers and their people much-needed peace of mind. Vendors and contractors who can provide recovery services and replacement supplies. After years of record damage from increasingly powerful storms, homeowners and builders are looking intensely at ways to fortify their homes. The Federal Alliance for Safe Homes has organized a national hurricane resilience initiative with the goal of saving lives and homes. Keep these tasks in mind so you and your business will be ready for the worst. Instead, the h-shaped design holds against the window’s casing. Release the crane parking brake and leave it in free slew when high winds are expected. Give yourself more time than usual to prepare your emergency food, water, and medicine supplies. If plywood sells out everywhere and you can’t get your hands on any, don’t fret: Alternative types of wood can be used. 2-3 days before expected landfall: Consider canceling the delivery of common building materials to your job site except those materials needed to secure the building site from storm damage. BOP policies combine property and liability coverage in one policy and are usually less comprehensive than a commercial policy. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Florida imposed new mandatory building codes after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, at first locally and then statewide in 2002. So while the rebuilding process continues, it’s a good time to prepare your home for the next hurricane season. Correct any areas that may not provide necessary protection from high wind.