How to Handle a Sprinkler Flood at Your Office

12/23/2019 (Permalink)

We’re pretty sure the typical business owner doesn’t spend time thinking about the effects of flooding on their property due to their fire sprinklers being activated. However, it is an issue that could quickly get out of control and cost them tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The obvious solution to ensuring this doesn’t happen is prevention, but you’ll first need to know what could cause this.

Four Reasons for Accidental Activation

Believe it or not, the modern sprinkler system is not activated by fire alarms or even smoke caused by burnt food in your employee breakroom. They actually have to be subjected to extreme heat that either bursts the red liquid bulb or melts the metal sensor on the device. There are some things that can cause them to accidently activate, and here are some of the more common reasons this could happen:

• Improper installation of the system
• Vandalization of the sprinkler system
• A Factory accident
• The sprinkler heads being used inappropriately.

Immediate Steps to take to Prevent Loss

The very first step to take in an emergency flooding situation is to turn off the water. It’s important to have multiple people within your organization who are capable of doing this. Once you have the water shut off then the cleanup can begin. It’s possible that hundreds of gallons of water have been released in a very short period of time, so water damage to machinery, walls and floors can happen quickly. The best plan of attack is to contact an experienced and reputable water restoration company. They will be able to quickly and correctly dry each surface and reduce the risk of mold.

Your Long Term Approach

Now that you have the initial cleanup underway, your next step should be to contact your insurance company and prevent the problem from occurring again. Your employees must be trained to never hang anything from a sprinkler head or touch it. The ideal placement for sprinkler heads is in a location which is difficult for a person or even a machine to accidentally contact it.

A flood in your business may seem inconceivable, however there are some steps you can take to prevent and minimize damage. But in the case of an emergency, an experienced water restoration company such as SERVPRO of Bath can leave your facility looking “Like it never even happened.”