Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew Leads Businesses to Focus on Preparedness

The ravages of Hurricane Matthew are prompting businesses to rethink their natural hazards preparedness, with more than one out of four surveyed employees in the stricken region saying they believe their companies will increase investment in the area. Matthew was the costliest Atlantic hurricane since Superstorm Sandy, which struck the East Coast four years ago this Saturday.

In a new survey focusing on Matthew’s business impact, 28 percent of employees from Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas said they believe their employer is increasing investment in preparedness for natural disasters like hurricanes, as a result of Hurricane Matthew. The online survey of 1,224 employees, from companies of all sizes, was sponsored by FM Global, a global commmercial property insurer, and administered in mid-October 2016 by research firm Qualtrics.

While respondents gave their companies mostly A’s and B’s for pre-storm preparedness, nearly two out of five employees (38 percent) said Hurricane Matthew interrupted normal business operations, and 26 percent of employees said their companies lost customers or orders as a result of the storm.

“Hurricane Matthew was a catastrophic event of major proportions, and disruptions of all kinds were to be expected,” said Brion Callori, senior vice president of engineering and research at FM Global. “However, we do believe the majority of loss is preventable, and tools and solutions exist to both understand what might occur during a hurricane and be prepared to mitigate the effects. We applaud new investment in resilience since it could make all the difference in the fate of a business, including revenue, market share, shareholder value and reputation. It’s only a matter of time before the next severe storm strikes.”

Source: FM Global