Disaster Season: Proactive Protection for Collectibles and Documents

Natural disasters can disrupt business operations and endanger critical assets, including documents, files, collections, archives, artifacts, and collectibles. Fires, floods, and other emergencies pose significant risks, threatening to destroy irreplaceable items vital to your organization’s continuity and success. To safeguard these resources, institutions and businesses must implement a comprehensive disaster preparedness and recovery plan.

Below, we outline key strategies to protect your organization’s critical assets before disaster strikes, ensuring operational resilience and effective recovery.

Digitize and Secure Essential Documents and Files

For businesses and institutions, the loss of critical documents and files—such as contracts, operational records, and financial archives—can result in severe operational and financial setbacks. Digitization offers an efficient way to protect these assets while ensuring accessibility.

Why digitization matters:

• Accessibility: Cloud-based storage ensures vital records, archives, and collections remain accessible, even if physical facilities are compromised
• Continuity: Digital backups allow operations to resume quickly, minimizing disruptions.
• Security: Storing digital copies in secure, encrypted platforms protects sensitive information from damage and unauthorized access.

Scan important documents and files, and establish a routine to update your digital archives regularly. Cloud solutions offer scalable and secure options for safeguarding these essential assets.

Assess Insurance Coverage

While digitization protects documents and files, many physical assets—such as artifacts, collectibles, or historical archives—require robust insurance coverage. Proper coverage ensures your organization can recover financially if these valuable items are damaged or destroyed.

Key considerations:

• Comprehensive policies: Ensure that your commercial property insurance includes coverage for damages caused by natural disasters like floods, fires, or hurricanes.
• Specialized coverage: For high-value collections, archives, and artifacts, consider additional policies or riders that reflect their true value.
• Regular assessments: Review and update your policies periodically to account for acquisitions or changes in value.

Having the right insurance coverage provides critical financial protection and ensures your assets are accounted for in your disaster recovery plan.

Invest in Physical Safeguards

Many institutions house irreplaceable physical assets such as historical archives, sensitive documents, and priceless artifacts. Physical safeguards can provide a vital line of defense against damage during disasters.

Recommendations for physical protection:

• Fire-rated safes: Use safes with a 1-hour or higher fire rating to protect critical items such as documents, files, and small collectibles.
• Environmental controls: Install climate-resistant storage solutions to guard against moisture, heat, and temperature fluctuations that can damage archives and artifacts.
• Facility enhancements: Implement leak detection, flood barriers, fire suppression systems, and secure storage for irreplaceable collections and artifacts.

By investing in these safeguards, organizations and businesses can reduce the risk of irreparable loss.

Code Blue: Rapid Response for Document Recovery

Disasters often require urgent intervention to prevent permanent damage to critical items. Polygon’s Code Blue® program provides a specialized solution for institutions and businesses, offering immediate recovery services for documents, files, archives, and other valuable assets.

How Code Blue can help:

• Immediate response to mitigate further damage to documents.
• On-site stabilization to prevent the spread of moisture, mold, or soot damage.
• Comprehensive recovery solutions, including freeze-drying and restoration.

Enrolling in Code Blue ensures your organization is prepared to act quickly, reducing potential losses and expediting recovery.

Restoration: Know Who to Call

Despite the best efforts to prepare, disasters can still cause damage. In such situations, timely action is critical to restoring affected items.

Polygon offers professional restoration services across the country, specializing in salvaging documents, collectibles, and other valuables. Our team works swiftly to minimize damage and maximize the chances of restoration.

Conclusion

Preparation is key to protecting your organization’s critical assets from natural disasters. A comprehensive disaster preparedness plan should include:

• Digitization: Secure cloud storage for essential documents, files, and archives.
• Insurance review: Coverage for high-value collections, artifacts, and irreplaceable items.
• Physical safeguards: Fire-rated safes, climate-controlled storage, and protective facility measures.
• Code Blue enrollment: A rapid-response recovery plan tailored to your organization’s needs.
• Key contacts: Maintain a list of trusted restoration experts, insurers, and emergency services.

At Polygon, we are here to help you prepare and recover. If disaster strikes, contact us for restoration assistance or to learn more about Code Blue. Let us be your partner in safeguarding what matters most.

For more information on how to protect your valuables, visit our blog or reach out to us directly. Polygon is always by your side.