26-10-2007
Awareness of risk management growing
Awareness of the importance of business insurance has increased following the various natural disasters that have occurred in 2007, it has been reported.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that owners of small firms are now more likely to be aware of the implications of not having insurance and risk management processes in place.
Spokesperson for the FSB Simon Briault said: "There's more awareness now than ever before about the need to make sure that you've got continuity plans and that you can survive if there's a flood or a fire or whatever."
He added that the summer, with the outbreaks of foot and mouth and blue tongue, as well as the widespread flooding, has brought the issues of insurance and risk management "into the open a bit more and made them more of a concern for small businesses".
Research from analysts Populus last year found that almost half of businesses did not have plans in place to deal with the impact of flooding, while one-third of companies did not know how they would cope in the aftermath of a storm.