Be prepared

Europe has again been hit by extreme weather resulting in floods in northern Italy. In 2021, it was the German region of Ahrtal valley and in 2022, large parts of the UK were submerged. In May, the wealthy region of Emilia Romagna was hit with six months of rainfall in just 36 hours.

More than 43 towns and villages were flooded, 15 people lost their lives and the Italian government provided €2bn in aid for farmers and business owners affected by the event. The provisional cost of the damage amounted to €7bn.

The region is also home to many businesses and industries. The devastating impact was exacerbated by a lack of preparation.

At times like these, restoration companies such as BELFOR play a critical role in helping these companies recover and return to business operations as quickly as possible. But companies can also help to limit the disruption they face by devising, implementing and practicing an emergency plan.

Unlike traditional property insurance, the priority is not raising funds to finance the recovery. It is restoration services such as BELFOR that are typically the first to receive a call in these situations.

Since the beginning of May and the first flood, BELFOR has worked around the clock with more than 200 technicians to enable damaged companies to resume activity as soon as possible. The company has been able to call on its International Major and Complex Project Team, which has supplied extra manpower and equipment to support the Italian team.

For example, machinery restoration specialists were sent from BELFOR DeHaDe (Germany) along with industrial dehumidifiers and new mobile electronics restoration trucks. BELFOR has also set up a logistics centre in the Italian town of Forli to handle the distribution of manpower and materials to construction sites within the affected area, and act as an additional base for electronic remediation efforts in the region.

But even with these steps, the demand far outstrips supply at times like this. As Filippo Emanuelli, managing director for BELFOR in Italy, said: “Our phones are ringing non-stop. The customers’ supply chain is affected and they need to get back on track as soon as possible.”

BELFOR has addressed the demand for services by establishing RED ALERT and PIA Pronto Intervento Azienda®, an emergency response service that prioritises clients in the immediate aftermath of crises such as a flood. More than 9,000 clients with PIA and RED ALERT were affected. Services were based in the southern part of Romagna region.

Matthias Beck, head of insurance and risk management at WÜRTH Group, the German industrial parts distributor, and a RED ALERT client, said: “When I received the call I could immediately reassure my Italian colleagues: BELFOR is coming, they have the resources, we know each other well. We are a RED ALERT client and therefore we have priority status.”

BELFOR also runs a number of training programmes where clients can engage in scenario planning to test and establish what their preparations should comprise.

There are a number of simple but often forgotten protocols that companies can use to prepare and help cut the business interruption time period. Having a qualified list of suppliers able to rent emergency power generators and vacuum trucks to evacuate water mud are a few examples of important actions that can be done in advance. Of course, a business contingency plan is a more complex activity to implement.

Daniele Maggioni – RED ALERT product manager at BELFOR in Italy said: “It is a lesson that many other Italian companies are learning. At BELFOR we are receiving many more enquiries about our priority assistance programmes while a large number of companies want to take part in our training programmes to be better prepared for the next damage due to extreme weather or fire or pollution damage.”