Commercial Plumbing Played a Big Role in Sydney Business Resilience
It’s no doubt been an extraordinary year of rain and unexpected natural events that have caused havoc to Sydney businesses. There is no doubt that the commercial plumbing Sydney buildings have undertaken in the past played a huge role in how each building fared during the floods.
Preventative plumbing maintenance is vital to the resilience of your commercial property in Sydney. It not only assists the property to withstand extreme weather events but also ensures less business disruption should an emergency occur.
It’s important to remember that commercial plumbing in Sydney is a niche area of trade and not all plumbers are accustomed to working in industrial and commercial properties.
If you’re an operations manager for an industrial or commercial organisation, here are some key areas to improve building resilience.
Ensure the building facility is water tight
Not all commercial businesses own the building they occupy, but if your business does, as part of the Workplace Health and Safety plan, it’s essential to ensure property maintenance is kept up-to-date.
Often the tap leaks and blocked toilet situations can be easily identified and fixed immediately. But storm water drainage issues are not always clear cut. It requires the expertise of an experienced commercial plumber to investigate and assist in a storm water drainage design to mitigate flash flooding.
Maintaining the roof and ensuring enough down pipes are installed to your industrial property is important, too. An inspection to ensure the external roof and storm water drainage to your property is sufficient should be part of your annual property maintenance checklist.
If you’re a tenant, it’s important for staff to identify issues as soon as they are noticed so this can be sent to the landlord to repair.
Can resilience features to a building reduce commercial insurance premiums?
It’s best to ask a broker or your insurer direct on whether improving resilience features to your commercial dwelling can impact your commercial insurance premiums.
It’s not advisable to reduce the sum the building is insured for as the cost of rebuilding properties has increased due to a combination of:
- Lack of building supplies
- High demand for tradies
- Flood damaged homes and properties requiring priority and therefore affecting the first two pain points
Getting back to business if your building was impacted by the floods
When a commercial building is inundated with flood waters, it can affect many plumbing fittings. The following areas are where your plumber can isolate and test the item and advise on whether it requires replacement.
In situations where black water (flood waters with sewerage) has flooded the property, it’s recommended to replace all fittings and valves which include the following:
- Pumps
- Thermostatic mixing valves
- Chilled and boiling water units
- Flush valves
- Reticulated hot water units
