This Is Not A Drill!
Step-By-Step Disaster Prep BY KERRI FIVECOAT-CAMPBELL
Fires, floods, hurricanes, burglaries, and finding hazardous chemicals in storage units are just some of the disasters you may have encountered, or will encounter, running a self-storage facility.
“U
nfortunately, I’ve had the misfor- tune of experiencing about every
disaster with our facilities,” says Beau Agnello, senior vice president at Pogoda Companies in Farmington Hills, Mich. Those disasters have included all those mentioned above, as well as the 2021 winter freeze that gripped much of the country, including South Texas. According to
usclimate.gov, the storm was the costli- est winter weather event in U.S. history. Several of Pogoda’s properties were affected with power outages and broken pipes.
Agnello says a comprehensive disaster
plan put together before the event, as well as managers who were trained in disaster management, helped the compa- ny get through the crisis.
Getting your facility through a disas-
ter can be broken down into two parts: pre-disaster planning and disaster management during and after the event.
Five Keys To Pre-Disaster Planning
1. Identify the types of disasters your facility may experience. Kenneth Nitzberg, chairman and CEO of Devon Self Storage in Emeryville, Calif., says to identify the types of natural disas- ters most common to your area. For example, California facilities should identify earthquakes and wildfires. “If you’re in the business long enough, you will encounter different disasters, so you need to try to have a contin- gency for each.” When identifying the types of disasters, our experts say it’s a good idea to also make sure your
facility is prepared with supplies such as emergency kits, food, and water for managers who live on site; ice melt; and other supplies.
2. Make sure you, your employees, and tenants have proper insur- ance. M. Anne Ballard, president of marketing, training, and devel- opmental services for Universal Storage Group in Atlanta, Ga., points to a fire at one of their facilities that destroyed the office, manager’s apartment, and tenant units in one building. “The owner had good property insurance that included replacement value and loss of use,” says Ballard. “All of the tenants had insurance on their belongings and the manager had content insur- ance on her belongings in the apartment.”
Carol Mixon, president of SkilCheck
Services in Tucson, Ariz., says these books are very helpful in the event of a disaster. “Most managers don’t even know where all the shut-off valves are for water and utilities,” says Mixon.
Ballard adds the books should
contain everything you can think of that will assist you or your employees during a disaster, including step-by- step instructions, detailed information about insurance policies and agent contact numbers, utility bill account numbers (including copies of the bills), and contact numbers, as well as user- names and passwords. “Don’t list them as ‘username’ and ‘password;’ label them as something else to help protect the facility, but they should be included and updated as employees change,” says Ballard. “Think of what you would
Agnello says a comprehensive disaster plan put together before the event, as well as managers who were trained in disaster management, helped the company get through the crisis.
3. Put together a written disaster plan. Ballard says the Emergency Preparedness Manual assembled by the Self Storage Association is a great blueprint for building your own disaster plan. “We have what we call the Red Book, which started in print but is now in digital form as well,” says Ballard. “The book has everything managers and employ- ees need to know about what to do in the event of a disaster.”
need if you didn’t have access to your office.” Mixon also advises not to forget to include contact numbers that you may not think of, such as poison control, mental health, and domestic crisis lines.
No matter how long you’ve been in
the business, you may encounter a new scenario. “When you come across some- thing new, make sure to add it to your book so there are instructions in case it happens again,” says Nitzberg.
MiniStorageMessenger.com • August 2023 63
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