Swish Building products – adapting to the impacts of severe weather events

Organisation

Part of the EPWIN Group and based in Tamworth, Staffordshire Swish Building Products manufacture PVC fascias, soffits, guttering, cladding and window board systems for the social housing, new build and trade construction markets.

Aims

To develop a flood risk management plan in response to the potential impact from an extreme weather event.

The challenges

The West Midlands has experienced a number of severe weather events over the last ten years, many of which have had a major impact on the local business community.

Swish Building Products are located near to the River Tame in Tamworth which has a history of flooding.  In 2007, heavy rain caused the river to burst its banks and overwhelm the flood defence systems resulting in widespread flooding across the river catchment area.

The solutions

In response to the potential for future flooding events, Swish Building Products have developed a detailed flood risk management plan using a risk based approach. The plan covers a number of areas including the potential impact on the workforce, utilities, manufacturing (critical plant and machinery), warehousing operations, IT systems and critical communications, procedures for informing insurers, clean up after the flood and extra security measures.

Results

The company now have a robust flood risk management plan in place and is well placed to respond to the potential risk from future flooding events

Learning points

Understanding how the business could potentially be affected by a flooding event has been a crucial first step in developing plans for business continuity. As a result of developing their flood emergency response plan the company are now more confident that they would be able to continue to operate, in spite of the weather.

SWM comment

This case study clearly demonstrates the importance of considering the potential impact that a severe weather event could have on your business continuity.

Identify your risk to flooding by visiting the Environment Agency Flood Map Tool

Contact

For further information on Swish Building Products visit www.swishbp.co.uk or contact Paul Nelms on 01952 280557 or email pnelms @epwin.co.uk