Damage & business interruption: keeping a company economically healthy

Operating losses can be caused by a variety of events: fire, water damage, natural disasters, machine breakdown, vandalism, etc., and can have an impact on the business and turnover. This guarantee, which is conditional on the existence of direct damage, can sometimes be extended to losses without damage, caused by particular events such as demonstrations or administrative closures. When this guarantee is acquired, it enables the professional to return to the financial situation he would have been in if the loss had not occurred.

Once the loss has occurred and the company has reported the loss to its insurance company, the latter calls in a loss adjuster. The adjuster’s task is to determine the extent of the damage and to estimate the consequential damage. To do this, the adjuster goes directly to the site of the loss (sometimes after an initial contact which may have been done by video-expertise) to ascertain the damage and decide, in partnership with the insured, on the actions to be taken so that the company’s activity can restart as soon as possible. It is not uncommon, depending on the disaster, for the expert to propose post-disaster solutions such as decontamination or dewatering, both for equipment and for the building. The aim of all the steps taken will be to limit the impact of the disaster.