Natural disasters are one of the major threats to your business. For instance, if you are located in a tornado-prone area or in a zone prone to a natural disaster, you must worry not only about protecting your employees’ lives but also about the possible economic loss. Having an above-ground storm shelter in your facility serves as economic benefits as well as basic precautions for the safety of your staff.
Reduced Downtime and Improved Productivity
Perhaps the most obvious economic advantage offered by an above-ground storm shelter is reduced downtime.
- Ensures Safety During Storms: If there is a storm, employees can quickly reach the shelter – and wouldn’t need to spend time travelling somewhere else first. This means businesses can get back on their feet sooner.
- Post-Storm Resumption: Facilities with storm shelters can often get back up and running more quickly after a storm has passed. This helps them avoid lost revenue during downtime.
- Employee morale and productivity: People are more likely to perform well at work because they know there’s a safe place to go during a storm when they have a safe room. Employees are likely to be more productive when they know their safety is valued.
Lower Insurance Premiums
Installing a storm shelter can lead to decreases in insurance premiums.
- Risk Mitigation: An above-ground storm shelter eliminates the risk associated with high-wind events, which could make your insurance carrier consider your facility less of a liability.
- Shelter Markup: With a shelter in place, you can negotiate better premiums, which will save you money in the long run.
- Potential Incentives: Insurers (and some governmental agencies) have incentive programs if your business installs safety features such as storm shelters. Look in to see if there are programs for your facility.
Minimizing Cost of Damages
The damage to your business from a storm can be enormous, impacting your short- and long-term finances.
- Physical safety: Above-ground storm shelters are built to withstand extreme weather. Wall, ceiling and floor of shelter will sustain minimum damage in collapse.
- Asset Protection: These shelters are not just for people, they are used to protect your most valuable assets and equipment, in doing so you’re minimizing your loss or replacement.
- Repair Costs: Safeguarding people and essential resources reduces post-storm repair and replacement costs.
Compliance and Avoidance of Legal Liabilities
Keeping safety standards and regulations is not only right, it’s good for business.
- Compliance with Regulatory Standards: With a storm shelter onsite, the facility is more likely to meet or exceed federal and local safety requirements, which would help them avoid fines and penalties.
- Legal protection: A safe environment for your employees can also provide you with legal immunity in the event of an injury or even a fatality during a natural disaster.
- Grants and Funds: Some cities and states offer grants or other financial incentives to businesses that take responsibility to make their locations safer, including by installing storm shelters. They may even help ease the financial burden of installation.
Enhanced Property Value
A facility with an above-ground shelter can have a higher market value.
- A Key Selling Point: If you ever resell the property, the storm shelter will be a key selling point. Particularly in areas where severe weather is common.
- Increased Appraisal Value: The existence of storm shelters raises the value of the property. It is a good investment.
- Future-Proofing: weather events are growing less predictable. That means resilience increasingly comes with a building.
Summary
In addition to the obvious safety benefits, building an above-ground storm shelter means making money. It means faster recovery and higher productivity, lower insurance premiums, reduced cost of repair, greater ease in compliance, lower legal liability and higher property value.
Here are some key takeaways:
- Reduction in operational downtime
- Lower insurance premiums and possible incentives
- Minimized potential damages and repair costs
- Compliance and decreased legal liabilities
- Enhanced property market value
These business benefits plus the intangible value of saving human lives make installing an above-ground storm shelter a good business decision.
By adding an above-ground storm shelter you can provide a safe place for your employees and the investment will pay for itself many times over.
