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Risk management Disaster control plan

Protecting heritage buildings with a disaster recovery plan

Risk management Disaster control plan
Insuring historic property and valuable contents is a highly specialised area that requires expert assessment and professional advice.

What is a disaster?

A disaster is a sudden or unforeseen event that can cause significant damage. In the historic environment, a disaster can put potentially irreplaceable items at risk of destruction. Disasters can occur because of a significant weather event or a non-weather-related incident that causes destruction and could include:

  • Fire
  • Flood
  • Storm
  • Bomb threat/explosion
  • Serious injury to staff, volunteers, or visitors.

Many disasters remain out of our control, but how we respond has the potential to minimise the impact.

Preventing a disaster in the first instance is always preferable to managing a disaster situation that has already caused damage and disruption. Where possible, preventative measures should be put in place based on assessments of your building, contents, and activities.

Disaster recovery planning is the next step and uses those assessments to detail the key actions to take should something happen.

What is disaster planning?

Planning for a disaster involves creating an action plan that can be immediately implemented in an emergency. It sets out the key information that may be needed by your team, such as plans for the emergency services or insurer information, and outlines the actions to take in the event of anything from a small-scale incident to a major catastrophe.

Why do I need a disaster recovery plan?

  • Provides procedures for when disaster strikes, to ensure the most effective response where prompt and decisive action is essential.
  • Helps minimise harm to people, buildings, and contents, informs business continuity planning, and protects the organisation's reputation.
  • Supports an insurance claim.

Disaster recovery guide

Guidance to assist you in preparing your own disaster recovery plan.

Get started

Disaster recovery plan steps

  • Responsibilities and tasks
    Having clear responsibilities defined in the event of an emergency can help achieve an effective response and allow you to consider any training needs as part of your preparation. Detailing the activities that will need to take place as soon as the incident occurs and throughout recovery, even at a high level, will help take control of the situation quickly.
  • Emergency plan
    When the unexpected happens, the plan itself details what to do initially, the information you will need, and who to contact in those initial hours to maximise time and efficiency.
  • Communications plan
    How to manage the wider network of people who will need to be informed, and how to continue any business activity. This may include staff, service users, volunteers, trustees, and the media.
  • Recovery plan
    Carrying out the salvage process to minimise long-term damage and get back to normal as quickly as possible.

Disaster recovery plans don’t come ‘off the shelf’. If you are a private house owner with a valuable collection, your needs will differ from those of the team running a museum.

The guide is designed to give you an overview of the sorts of issues you need to consider when putting your plan together. We have also provided a set of ‘Notes’, forms, templates, and checklists to help tailor the content to your own circumstances.

Disaster control documents

Risk advice line

Customers can contact our experts for specific risk advice:

0345 600 7531

9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays)

risk.advice@ecclesiastical.com Find out more Preferred suppliers

Disaster recovery guide

Guidance to assist you in preparing your own disaster recovery plan.
Get started

Risk Management – Customer Opinion Results 2024, responses from 203 customers

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