On this page 5 sections

Start with safety and required reporting

The business should use its incident plan to identify regulator, law-enforcement, landlord, lender, customer, cyber, workplace, and other reporting duties with qualified advisers.

Find the policy instructions

  • Identify every policy that may be relevant and the correct insured entity and location
  • Review notice addresses, time requirements, conditions, deductibles, and cooperation duties
  • Contact the retail broker or the policy's designated claims channel
  • Do not assume that notice under one policy gives notice under another
  • Record the date, time, recipient, method, claim number, and next requested step

Preserve the loss record

  • Photographs, video, incident reports, alarms, access logs, inventory, and sales records
  • Damaged property, product, packaging, equipment, and other evidence when safe and permitted
  • Witness, employee, customer, vendor, and authority communications
  • Emergency, mitigation, cleanup, relocation, professional, and other expenses
  • Lost sales, continuing expenses, operational dependencies, and the recovery timeline

Keep one dated recovery log

Assign one person to maintain the timeline of notices, instructions, mitigation decisions, vendors, expenses, damaged property, inventory changes, temporary operations, and requested documents. The log should distinguish confirmed facts from estimates and record who supplied each update.

Keep copies of what was sent to each policy's claims channel and note the response, claim number, adjuster, and next step. A shared record helps the business avoid inconsistent answers while different policies, regulators, vendors, and advisers are involved.

  • Record safety and emergency actions before insurance administration
  • Preserve evidence when safe and permitted, and document any necessary movement
  • Separate repair, replacement, cleanup, relocation, and continuing expenses
  • Update the timeline as operations resume and estimates become actual amounts

Do not use a web page as a claim determination

The policy, facts, applicable law, and claim handling control. Ask the appropriate carrier, broker, claims professional, legal adviser, or other qualified specialist before taking an action that could affect evidence, regulatory duties, mitigation, or coverage.

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