Water Damage & Flooded Basement Restoration Services

Consequences of Fire Damage in Office Buildings

By the RestorationSOS Educational Staff

Fire is among one of the most dangerous disasters that can occur, whether they be residential or commercial in nature. When all elements and effects are taken into consideration, fires in commercial establishments such as office buildings have the capacity to be even more destructive than most, due primarily to their impact on the company as well as the effect on the lives and careers of staff.

The most obvious consequence of fire damage to office buildings is the damage and destruction to the property itself. Many businesses are self-contained, which means when that business is incapacitated, production and normal operational procedures cease. For businesses with satellite locations, it is possible to continue operations and shift a measure of the any production duties to that facility, allowing business to continue as usual. For businesses that are located under one roof, all work ceases until repairs can be made and production ramped up again.

Business Losses and Downtime

Of course, any downtime for a business translates at the bottom line as lost revenue. For every day a business is offline, there is a corresponding average of revenue that is not generated and that loss may take weeks or months to make up for once the damage is repaired and the doors are open again. In cases where the business is shuttered for a period of weeks, the revenue loss may be unrecoverable and such losses will have to be reported and accounted for in annual financial statements and reports.

Also, valuable data and documents may be lost as a result of a fire. For businesses with solitary locations, there should be an offsite backup for all important data and files. In addition, there may be the loss to stored inventory and products, materials that will cost additional funds to properly replace.

Effects a Fire has on Employees

One element that makes office building fires so devastating, but that is not typically taken into consideration, is the effect of office fires on the employees of the company. Office workers may end up dealing with lost wages as the result of time lost due to fire damage and repair. Others may be injured in the fire, which of course results in numerous doctor bills and medical costs. While the company may eventually regroup and reopen, it is always possible that certain positions may be eliminated as a result, leaving a percentage of the work force unemployed.

Clearly, the consequences of office fires are far reaching and in many cases severe, which helps to make the case for each company to have in place an emergency preparedness plan, designed to protect employees and staff, and hopefully keep the damage to the company to a bare minimum.

Recommended Reading
Preventing Fire Damage in the Office
The Hazards of Fire Damage