Risk Management

Risk management is critical to running your business safely and responsibly. It involves lessening your exposure to risk by employing safety precautions particular to your business while securing protection against catastrophe through adequate insurance coverage. It's taking the offensive rather than wishing you had put something in place after the disaster strikes. We all have a strong desire to preserve what we have. If you want to protect your studio equipment and materials as well as your ability to earn an income, you need to have a risk management plan and business owner's policy in place.

Safety Precautions

Having proper insurance coverage for your business doesn’t lessen the importance of having safety precautions in place to reduce the likelihood of a loss and the size of a loss, if one should occur. A complete review of the subject is beyond the scope of this paper, but below is a list of risks that  art businesses are commonly exposed to. A complete risk management plan includes taking all reasonable steps to reduce the potential loss from these risks, whether at your studio, in transit, or on location.

• Personal injury (self, employees and customers)

• Property (structure, inventory, tools, supplies, records, etc.) loss from fire or natural disaster

• Theft

  • Store Copies of  Records in an “SOL.”  Another vital precautionary step to take for your risk management plan is to have up-to-date records of you assets in a SOL (Safe Off-site Location someplace 50-100 miles away from your studio that would be unlikely to be affected by the same disaster). If you do experience a property loss, these records, along with a visual and written record of losses, will prove invaluable. Records usually include photos, videos, recent backups of computer files and copies of important documents.

  • Document the contents of your studio and store in an “SOL.” Open drawers and photograph everything with a digital, film, or video camera. If you are using video, talk about what is in the picture. This documentation will be invaluable if you need to file a claim and provide evidence of what you lost. Do not trust it to your memory, you probably have a lot more things than you will be able to remember. The Studio Protector Blog has a how-to piece on doing a studio inventory.