Thankfully most individuals and companies will never experience a fire or flood and those that do find it’s of a relatively minor nature. Unfortunately the absence of severity can sometimes lull those affected into a false sense of security; making them believe that because ‘it wasn’t so bad, we can deal with it ourselves – we’ll use our normal cleaners and contractors’. This is where many simple but ultimately costly mistakes can be made. Disaster related contamination and damage is a very complicated subject. If buildings, services, equipment and contents are not properly decontaminated they can continue to deteriorate, from the affects of acidic smoke for example, often with severe financial consequences. If wet documents are not properly treated they can be rendered useless from mildew growth. If structures are not properly dried out after a flood on-going damp problems will persist leading to wet/dry rot in woodwork and potentially health harming mould growth. Where decontamination and restoration work has been carried out inappropriately or incompetently by untrained/inexperienced or specialist contractors you need to be able to seek out expert help to not only investigate the problem but also to propose remedial recovery actions and negotiate/arbitrate between the parties involved. […]

If faced with the aftermath of a disaster such as a fire or significant flood you will very quickly discover that your management capacity is finite. Not only are you faced with the need to secure your company’s business future you have the added problem of dealing with the physical recovery of your property and assets. Most often you simply won’t have the in-house resource to devote to all the tasks that need to be undertaken and will have to turn to outside help. For tasks such as reconstruction and premises refurbishment the sources of outside help are obvious; i.e. architects, chartered surveyors, M&E/HVAC specialists etc. however when it comes to the very specialist area of post-incident decontamination there are very few independent and impartial experts that you can turn to. You will need to be able to access expertise in the areas of incident related contamination and its impact on buildings, services and contents; on decontamination procedures and quantitative cleanliness measurement; on site-specific decontamination work including health and safety procedures etc. All of these requirements must be carried out to ensure that the decontamination works are properly undertaken. As specialist consultants Davis French and Associates provide you with an […]

Given the need to rebuild after a fire you would look to architects and chartered surveyors to draw up a scope of works (bill of quantities) that builders would be asked to quote against. The architects/surveyors would supervise the selection process and qualify their choice to you. A similar process is used by Davis French and Associates for the selection of a damage management contractor for the decontamination works. Using a detailed scope of works our consultants will help you select suitable contractors to quote for the required works; by briefing the chosen contractors and accompanying them on an inspection tour; instructing them on what level of decontamination is required; and informing them of issues/concerns raised by other involved parties that need to be taken into consideration. Once quotes are received we assist you and your insurance loss adjusters/claims specialists in assessing the competence of the contractors and their price propositions leaving you to make the final decision as to who to appoint. Davis French and Associates are well suited for the role of supplier selection adviser. All of our staff have worked in the damage management industry in very senior roles for many years and fully understand your needs […]