(NEENAH, Wisc.) – As residents along the Texas and Louisiana coast prepared for Hurricane Ike, Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company had a team of claim professionals ready to visit its customers in the hurricane zone as soon as they were permitted entrance. Typically, civil authorities permit insurance personnel into disaster areas earlier than the general public, underscoring the importance of getting repairs and claims underway quickly to assure a speedy recovery.
Jewelers Mutual Claim Manager Don Elliott explained, “Our claims team was in Louisiana within hours of Hurricane Gustav’s landfall, personally visiting 125 jewelry businesses. Baton Rouge and the surrounding areas were hit the hardest, but jewelers were well prepared for this storm. We have received 38 claims to date as a result of Gustav, but saw much less physical damage than we anticipated. Hurricane Hanna resulted in very little claim activity.”
The company’s claim staff assists jewelers in filing claims and provides recommendations to protect property from additional damage.
Jewelers Mutual reminds those in the jewelry industry that no business is immune to disaster, whether it’s a hurricane, tornado, flood, fire, explosion, or illness.
“Every business should have an updated business continuity plan,” urged Jeff Mills, vice president of Commercial Lines Operations at Jewelers Mutual. The Jewelers Mutual website provides a handy template for creating that plan, as well as a hurricane preparedness guide and information about how to document an insurance claim. You can find those resources at www.jewelersmutual.com. Click on the Safety & Security link.
