Author: Bill Wilson
Our Tennessee association has produced an outstanding new disaster plan that includes information on earthquakes, inland storm systems and flooding, fire conflagrations, transportation and industrial accidents, terrorism, and other types of disasters. IIABA members can now download this plan and adapt it for use in their agencies.
What have consumers not directly affected by Katrina and other hurricanes this past season learned about preparing for disasters? Apparently not much....
The results of a poll conducted for the Council for Excellence in Government and the American Red Cross before and during Hurricane Katrina (August 26-31, 2005) and then replicated two months later (October 26-30, 2005) showed that 38 percent of Americans were not motivated at all by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to prepare for an emergency. Only 12 percent say they have done a great deal to prepare for a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or other major emergency.
A bigger question for our constituency is, what have AGENTS learned about preparing for disasters? Has your agency done ANYTHING in response to Katrina or other well-publicized catastrophes? Does your agency have a formal, WRITTEN disaster plan in place that your employees are familiar with and prepared to execute in the event of an emergency? If not, then please take the time to review our Disaster Resource page and then continue reading below....
In the near future, we will be moving much of this content into the members/subscribers-only section of the Virtual University and adding a significant amount of new content. In the meantime, please save this page and the Disaster Resource page and download any free content on these pages, then get to work developing and implementing a disaster plan for your agency.
Winter brings the potential for major storms, spring and summer invite flooding and tornados, and fall is once again hurricane season. It is always in season for other natural disasters such as earthquakes and wildfires, not to mention man-made disasters such as transportation and industrial disasters and terrorist attacks.
As General Jimmy Doolitte once said, "The problem with Americans is that we're fixers rather than preventers." While we can't prevent most natural disasters, we CAN prepare for them and take measures to minimize the damage that arises from them. Start today. Start right now....
A FREE Plan for YOUR Agency
Below are several links to disaster plans and guides from various sources, including an excellent one from our Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA). Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Added to this list of resources is a new disaster plan from our Tennessee association that gives increased emphasis on non-hurricane disasters such as earthquakes, inland storm systems and flooding, fire conflagrations, transportation and industrial accidents, and terrorism:
The Tennessee disaster planning committee, chaired by J. Alan Johnson, CPCU, ARM, AIS, felt that most of the other plans that they looked at were narrative in nature and told agents what they needed to do. The uniqueness of the Tennessee plan is that it uses fill-in-the-blank templates that allow each agency to pick and choose which level of preparedness they want to place themselves. If they just want to complete the basic info, then they can do that. If they want to maximize their readiness, they can complete all the templates, purchase and store all the supplies, re-wire the office to accept generator power, etc. The level of preparedness is left up to each individual agency.
Here is a table of contents from the guide:
I. Disaster Planning — Introduction
II. Definitions
III. Disaster Plan Objectives
A. Pre-Loss Objectives
B. Post-Loss Objectives
IV. What You Can Do
A. From a Loss Control Perspective
B. From a Claims Perspective
V. Perils Affecting Tennessee Agents
VI. Disaster Preparedness Levels
VII. Disaster Hot Sheets
A. Flood
B. Earthquake
C. Fire
D. Tornado / Severe Weather
E. Industrial / Transportation Accidents
F. Terrorism / NBCR
VIII. Disaster Plan Templates (For Agency Completion)
A. Agency Information
B. Emergency Contact
C. Agency Employee Information
D. Customers / Vendors (Printed by Agency)
E. Computer/Agency Management System
F. Trades/Contractor Lists
G. Alternate Agency Locations
H. Emergency Equipment List
I. Emergency Supply List
J. Public Relations
K. Agency Insurance Review Checklist
IX. Addendum Attachments
A. Client Handout
(What To Do If Disaster Strikes)
B. Portable Generator Information
C. Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
Information
D. “What’s The Cost?” from the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security
E. Insurors of Tennessee and IIABA logos
X. Disaster Assistance INSUROR
Volunteer Enrollment Form
This document is being used in their Phase II activities which involve setting up response zones within the state, working with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency to get access to disaster sites, organizing response teams (made up of mostly young agents), and gathering basic disaster supplies (ACORD forms, paper, pens, water, staple food, etc.). These supplies can be taken to a disaster site by zone volunteers and set up with a large Big "I"/Trusted Choice Logo sign to assist affected member agencies in gathering claims information and servicing clients.
If you have suggestions to improve this document, please send them to Bill.Wilson@iiaba.net and I'll make sure they get to the Insurors of Tennessee Disaster Committee.
As mentioned above, the following are some additional disaster plan and guide resources:
• FAIA Agency Catastrophe Guide
FAIA Agency Catastrophe Guide• FAIA Catastrophe Network
http://www.dcnonline.org
• ACT Disaster Planning & Management
http://na.iiaa.org/ACTDownloads/ACT2031505.doc
• Chubb Business Recovery Planning Guide
http://www.chubb.com/forms/recovery.html
• Disaster Recovery Journal Sample Plans and Outlines
http://www.drj.com/resources/tools/sample-plans.html