Hope for the best but prepare for the worst
December 1st 2006

Floods and fires can strike with little or no warning, so it's useful to have a plan to help your business get back on track. Graham Orriss,Managing Director of fire and flood restoration specialists,The Revival Company, explains what businesses can do to prepare and what they should expect from the experts who carry out the clean-up

Adisaster recovery plan, which can be communicated to all employees, is essential. This will ensure that no time is lost and that the recovery effort can be monitored.As part of this, you should speak to your insurance company to find out what provision they have for sending in the recovery experts.

Speed of response is key: businesses can lose thousands for every day's delay.Any good disaster recovery operation will operate a 24- hour service. At The Revival Company, all operators are owner managers of their own business and so understand how important it is to get a company back up and running – regardless of what time of day or night they are called out.

It is also important to check what level of national coverage a disaster recovery company has and how quickly they can deploy teams wherever they are needed. Our operators run their own businesses, so they have a vested interest in responding and supporting one another when a job comes in that's too big for one branch.

Once called in, a restoration specialist should quickly assess the damage and give you a plan of what they will do and how long it is likely to take. Our operators all provide this as a matter or course and our customers can be assured that we will take the strain and manage the full restoration from start to finish.

Our franchisees know that their own success depends on providing the very best service for our customers. All our operators attend regular training sessions on products and customer care to ensure there is no compromise on these standards. Our operators were recently called to the Corus Hotel in London, and it is good example of the way we work and how the Revival Speed Drying System can make all the difference.

The Corus Hotel was forced to find emergency accommodation for more than 600 guests after a 36-inch pressured water main burst outside its front doors Within minutes of the Victorian main bursting, the basement and sub basement of the hotel were deluged by several feet of water leaving the hotel without essential services and sanitation.

The Revival Company helped to get the hotel operational and open for business within just 12 days.

Ron Cox, the hotel's General Manager, said:"I just can't fault the Revival Company. Nothing was a problem.Their attitude was so refreshing, and they dealt with everything we threw at them.

"They brought in the Revival speed drying system, which is an amazing piece kit, without it I'm sure we'd have been closed longer.

Revival managed the whole of the clean-up, they really were excellent."

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