You’ll never guess where I am? Let me give you a few clues…

It’s mid May. My day job is as a public spokesperson for our county’s Emergency Management department. I live right on the Gulf of Mexico…

Yup.. hurricane season is coming up fast, and I am at the Governor’s Hurricane Conference helping to spread the word about preparedness and to take a few tips back home to help teach others.

That also means that the time has come again to talk about disaster preparedness and your shop. You would be surprised how vulnerable your shop can be to all kinds of disasters – hurricanes, fires, floods … the works.

Don’t think it can happen to you? That’s exactly what my friend Kyle Barton believed about his Galveston, Texas shop. That was until Hurricane Ike decided to pay a visit there, and do some tremendous damage to the shop. You can read Part One and Part Two here…

If a disaster did befall your shop, what would happen? After all, if you have a typical shop, you probably have a pretty significant investment of time and equipment out there. How can you replace that?

Here are a few quick tips:

• Read your policy. Seriously. Get it out and take a look at it. What’s covered? You might be surprised with how much – or how little – coverage you have.
• Do a shop inventory. Remember, you have to have a listing of what’s in your shop to provide an insurance adjuster after the incident is over. A list of your tools with model numbers is great.. and don’t forget to snap a few pictures. There are also tons of apps out there that can help you make this process a whole lot easier.
• Identify the important stuff. Do you have a tool with great sentimental value? Maybe a plane that your grandfather used? How about a set of chisels you won in a contest? Small, meaningful items should be identified in advance so you won’t forget them, nor will you waste time hunting them down.
• Can you ship some stuff out? If you have the ability to move some of your larger power tools to safer areas – such as a storage unit in a place that is less likely to flood – it might be a good idea to find out how much it would cost to move things there if you have advance warning – as with a hurricane. Some insurance companies may even pick up the cost of moving these items to a safer place – which costs them much less than replacing them.
• It’s just stuff. Never – and I mean NEVER – fail to take appropriate life-saving action to protect your shop tools. Seriously. People have had entire shop losses and have been able to rebuild everything better after the fact … because they were safe when the incident happened.

Of course, should something happen in your shop, it will be a devastating blow. But, remember, you built your shop – in many cases – from nothing. Just take the steps to make the recovery a little easier. You may thank me one day.