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Steps to Take Following Severe Flooding

• USE COMMON SENSE
• Keep documentation on everything. Record names, telephone numbers, dates and times of every person contacted regarding the flood damage.
• Contact your financial organization's insurance and bonding company. Be prepared to notify them as to the extent of damage, if known, (how many boxes may be involved.) Do they want to be present when the boxes are opened? Ask how your customers can file claims.
• Contact your financial organization's attorney. The attorney may wish to prepare an affidavit to indemnify the financial organization if the customer is exposed to contaminated areas when allowed to enter the vault to examine the box. Review any and all procedures that you plan to use with your attorney.
• Contact the Chamber of Commerce and the Salvation Army for any assistance they may provide. Previously in other flooded areas these organizations have provided cleaning materials, etc.
• Contact your local hospital for instructions and procedures on how to decontaminate the building.
• Contact a local security company. You will need to provide armed security anytime the building is entered to assure all customers that all precautions have been provided to protect their contents.
• Have a building inspector inspect the building for safety prior to entering or allowing entrance to the building by employees or customers.
• Secure a new certificate of occupancy from your county government.
• Contact your county government offices to see if you will receive a refund of some portion of your business license for the time you were unable to use the building.
• Contact your Investment Department and ask them to prepare a list that you can provide to your customers for document replacement. Names, addresses and telephone numbers can be provided for replacing the following:
  • Military Papers
  • Divorce Papers
  • Government Bonds
  • Marriage License
  • Birth Certificates
  • Transfer Agents
• Secure the name and phone number of a local business that will "Freeze Dry" wet documents. You will need to contact them in advance for procedures to protect items prior to their receiving them for drying.
• Contact local jewelers to see if anyone will volunteer to clean all jewelry affected by the flood for free. If you secure this service recommend it to your customers via a business card.
• Contact other financial organizations in your immediate area that were not involved in the flood and inquire if they have vacant boxes that could be rented to your customers. If so your organization will pay the rent for any boxes for one year.
• You may wish to secure additional dumpsters for trash removal. Many destroyed items may be retained on microfilm or in computer data and it may be too expensive to dry and restore paper documentation.
• All employees, officer and directors should be given tetanus shots as well as any vendors or customers that are allowed inside a contaminated building. Require a certificate stating they have received the tetanus shot.
• Institution officers should take lots of pictures inside the damaged area of the financial organization prior to any clean up of the areas. Photographs or video camera tapes will be your proof to the total amount of damage and will support your claim.
• Have a professional service clean floors and walls and remove any debris. Follow any recommended procedures to decontaminate the building.
• Contact your service provider and make an appointment for him to provide assistance with opening of the vault door.
• Secure rubber gloves and surgical masks to use for anyone entering the vault area.
• Obtain deodorizers to place in the vault when the door has been opened. The odor may be very strong.
• You may want to put down plywood floor coverings to stand on in the4 flooded areas and have some ready to put down in the vault area once the vault is opened and cleaned.
• Once the vault door is open, take pictures or videos and then clean and decontaminate the area following the procedures obtained from the hospital. Require that anyone entering the vault wear surgical masks and rubber gloves.
• Have your cleaning company clean the floors and exposed walls in the vault.
• Have your service provider wipe down and dry the surfaces of the sections of the boxes and vault door. Oil should be applied to the doors to try to prevent rusting.
• Secure various tools to assist with the removal of items when the box is opened. Items may have swollen with water and may be difficult to remove from the cavity. Such tools may be tongs, screw drivers, pliers, etc.
• Secure large trash cans and place in vault area for water emptied from tins. The water should be disposed of in the city sewer system.
• Secure large plastic bags to supply to customers for removal of box contents.
• Secure additional employees to assist customers with accessing the vault. You will need to have them inventory the contents and provide you with a complete claim form according to your insurance company's instructions. Contents should only be handled according to procedures provided by your medical advisors, attorney and insurance company.
• Secure access forms for entry to the boxes.
• If original contracts are available, have the customer sign the release portion. If contracts not available, have affidavits prepared by your attorney for release.
• Contact your service provider to see if they will be available to assist when customers come in to force open or drill boxes that will not open.
• Contact your customers and set up appointments 15 minutes apart to handle the maximum number of customers per day.
• Be sure a security officer is present in the vault area when customers are allowed to access the boxes.
• When the vault doors are opened and after the customers tin has been removed, the interior of the boxes should be wiped out and dried. Hair dryers may assist with drying.
• The lock should be removed and completely cleaned or replaced. Ask your service provider for a recommendation based on the type lock you have within your vault. The service provider may wish to obtain spare locks for your use.
• In the future you may wish to recommend to your customers that jewelry be placed in Tupperware type containers and all paper documents be placed in zip-lock type bags within the safe deposit box.

For additional information you may contact Waverly Egbert at 1-800-880-0353 or by email at safedepo@aol.com or you may contact Joyce McLin at the TASDA office at 1-800-768-8678 or by email at tasda1@aol.com.

 

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