A useful Disaster Recovery Guide produced by the Ecclesiastical Insurance Office, and circulated for reference by Kent Heritage Watch.

Download a copy of the Disaster Recovery Guide

Insuring historic property and valuable contents, from fine art to antique furniture, delicate fabrics and furnishings
to rare and precious collections, is a highly specialised area of insurance that requires expert assessment and
professional guidance. The possibility of disaster, whether natural or man-made, clearly has a disproportionate
impact on buildings and items that are by their nature irreplaceable. Many of these disasters remain out of our
control; however we do have control over how we react to a disaster, and how we react can help to minimise
the impact.

This guide and its associated notes are designed to assist you in creating a disaster recovery plan which can be
put into action should an incident occur. Disaster recovery plans do not come ‘off the shelf’. If you are a homeowner
with a valuable collection your needs will be very different from those who are running a museum or cultural
heritage site. In either instance your plan will be solely applicable to your own circumstances. This guide is
designed to give you a quick yet comprehensive overview of the sorts of issues that you will need to consider
when putting your plan together.

Contents include:

• What is a disaster?
• Prevention is better than cure
• Preparing the plan
• Tasks: roles and responsibilities
• Emergency plan
• Communications plan
• Recovery plan
• Review, reassess and refresh
• Further advice
• Useful contacts

For further information please visit the risk management hub on the Ecclesiastical website.