Battery Fire Recovery for AV Hire Company

At a hire company, a small fire occurred within one of the storage units used for storing hire equipment, including cameras, lighting, lenses, and associated audio-visual equipment. The fire was caused by the battery charging process. It is important to note that not all areas of the storage unit were affected, but some business-critical areas were affected by the fire.

The incident highlights the potential risks associated with battery charging and the storage of electronic equipment. The fire likely originated from a malfunctioning battery or charging equipment, leading to the ignition of nearby combustible materials.

The Process

The specialist team from Polygon Major Complex Claims assessed each item and advised on likely outcomes and costs. Through a triage system, items were checked for levels of soot and contamination, including those in cases, to understand the extent to which the item had been affected. Any items found to be contaminated were decontaminated using our proven techniques and process, and if required, returned to the original manufacturer for checking prior to being returned to the insured.

The Solution

The process undertaken for the triage and decontamination works is a tried and tested method performed over many years of experience within the industry, and worked extremely well in this situation, allowing the technicians, customer and insurer to understand the scale of the project. Based on the business continuity needs of the customer, the process for cleaning and decontamination took around 12 weeks. During this time, Polygon liaised with the insured daily to ensure business-critical items were processed as a priority. All items were meticulously decontaminated, and following this, we were appointed to complete the building decontamination works. Polygon provide an inclusive range of services for any issues due to fire, flood and temperature control situations, which gives a unique offering to join up our solutions, so whilst our specialist teams are on site.

Over 1600 individual items triaged and decontaminated with an estimated value of over £2.6million to replace should the process not be successful.

Our total costs were less than 8% of this replacement value.

The Outcome

The customer was able to continue business as close as possible whilst the works were undertaken, as we deployed mobile decontamination units and storage containers to the site to complete the works within. The results meant that when an individual. Items were completed, and these could be returned to service, allowing the insured to fulfil their customers' needs with confidence that the items were returned in perfect working order.