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In the AAIGOT Insurance Agency Inc. blog in July 2023, we discussed how hiring practices and commercial insurance purchases can help reduce your Houston, TX, business risk. In this blog, we’ll cover how writing an emergency response and business continuity plans can also reduce your business risk.

Business Risk Defined

Investopedia defines business risk as any factor that could lower a business’ profits or cause it to file for bankruptcy. Both internal and external factors qualify as business risks. Although a company cannot avoid all risks, each business can mitigate the threats it faces.

Risk Identification

You can’t protect your business against what you don’t know exists, so the first step in building risk resiliency comes from risk identification. Conduct a risk assessment that identifies all the perils your business faces. Perils businesses face go beyond the physical, such as tornadoes and floods, and extend to factors like embezzlement, fraud, and reputation attacks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website ready.gov provides businesses with free tools to help with risk identification.

Addressing Risks

Once you uncover the possible perils your business faces, develop response plans. Write an emergency response plan for physical perils that could damage your place of business or employees, such as fire or hurricane. These plans contain emergency scenarios, identify resources available for response, and include protective actions that preserve life and safety, such as an evacuation plan.

The response plans your business develops should also include a business continuity plan. This type of plan ensures that your company can continue operating during a peril or hazard. A business continuity plan addresses more than physical threats. It also includes your business’ responses to hackers, fraud, embezzlement, and other negative situations. Your business continuity plan would instruct employees on quickly transitioning from doing business from the office to operating at an alternative location or from home/sheltering locations.

Training Staff

Researching and writing the plan completes only half of the preparation process. After developing the plan, you train all staff on implementing it. From entry-level interns to CEOs, all employees complete training to know what to do in an emergency.

Testing the Plan Responses

Remember the fire drills of grammar school days? Those wonderful moments of getting out of a monotonous lecture served a valid purpose. Each school tested its emergency evacuation plan, which it made so simple that, quite literally, a small child could follow the instructions and reach safety. Test your emergency response plans and business continuity plans in the same way. Testing plans uncover problems or mistakes in theoretical planning that you amend.

Contact Us Today

Commercial insurance should form the cornerstone of your business risk response, but every business needs a response and business continuity plan. Let AAIGOT Insurance Agency Inc. help you protect your Houston, TX, business against risk. Turn to a business continuity specialist or hazards plan consultant to identify your business risks and create actionable plans to reduce your business risk and protect your staff.

Owning and operating a warehouse in Houston, TX requires that you carry adequate insurance coverage. Review some guidelines that will familiarize yourself with the coverage you need. Reach out to an agent who represents AAIGOT Insurance Agency Inc. for guidance regarding your insurance policy.

Inventory

Your inventory is essential in keeping your business afloat. If you purchase many materials that are needed to manufacture goods, they should be insured. The finished products that are sold through your business should also be insured.

Transport Essentials

If you use your fleet vehicles to transport goods, you need to make sure that each of your vehicles is equipped with insurance coverage. Coverage will protect against theft, damage to goods, damage to your vehicles, and damage to another person’s vehicle or property. The route that your vehicles travel could affect the type of insurance coverage that you need.

Onsite Accidents

Accidents can occur on the premises where your warehouse is located. You should purchase workers’ compensation insurance. This type of insurance will pay for injuries that occur at your place of business.

The size of your business will affect the type of insurance you need. The type of work that is done within your warehouse will also influence the amount of coverage that is essential.

Security

Adding security aids to your building can reduce the likelihood of needing to file an insurance claim. Commercial-grade lighting, alarms, and surveillance equipment will protect your place of business in Houston, TX. These items will also protect you and your workforce.

We Are Here To Help

 AAIGOT Insurance Agency Inc. will outline the commercial insurance plans that you can select from. Reach out to us today!

Business owners in the Houston, TX area have continued to find it to be a great place to own and grow a business. If you are going to start and run a business here, you will be able to maximize your opportunity if you continue to be properly covered with insurance. There are a lot of situations when it is a good idea to get a proper commercial insurance plan.

When Investing in Assets

A situation when you will want to get a commercial insurance plan for your Texas business is when you start to invest in assets. Businesses today will need to make sizable investments in various assets to get the company off the ground. If you do purchase assets, the losses due to fire, theft, or other forms of damage can be significant. However, if you have the right insurance in place, you will be able to mitigate this concern.

When Serving Customers

It is also important to have a commercial insurance plan whenever you plan to start serving customers. There are always liability risks that come with offering a product or service to a customer. If someone gets hurt or ill through the use of your product or service, you can be held responsible. Insurance will help to mitigate and offset this risk. 

We Are Here To Help

Any business that is in the Houston, TX area will want to know that they are getting the right insurance. When you are ready to start shopping for coverage here, you can call our team with AAIGOT Insurance Agency Inc. At AAIGOT Insurance Agency Inc., we understand the value of this coverage and know the available options. We will be able to help you create a new policy that will meet your personal needs.