Do you know how well your business could absorb the impact of a disaster? Barry O’Brien found out firsthand.
The impact of a natural or accidental disaster on your business can extend well beyond the immediate consequences and lost revenue. Remediation and recovery can consume an organization long after the threat is over. This is the story of Barry O’Brien’s White Owl Energy Services and how MNP was able to help keep the company focused on operations by assisting with their insurance claim process.
White Owl is a Calgary-based oilfield services company active in the U.S. Approximately 95 percent of revenues come from North Dakota, where the company owns and operates six saltwater disposal facilities, including Watford — one of their most significant revenue generators.
In January 2019 at about 11:30 a.m., static electricity ignited a massive fire in the Watford tank farm. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but it was a dramatic loss. Barry quickly realized he would need to invest a significant amount of company resources to figure out what happened and how to approach the insurance process.
Craig Burkart, MNP’s National Leader of Insurance Advisory Services, understands Barry’s position well:
“For most companies, this very first experience with disaster will include a massive loss of property and hit to their operations. They may not even be aware that a firm like MNP is there to help with the experience of having handled hundreds of these situations from both sides of an insurance claim. I reached out on behalf of MNP to initiate conversations with Barry and offered our support and services.”
Barry quickly realized engaging MNP would allow his team to concentrate on doing their jobs, continue running the rest of the business and not be consumed with having to prepare claims and deal with questions from adjustors and forensic accountants. This task was better handled by those much more familiar with the process.
“Craig and the team at MNP were able to organize everything in a way the insurance company could understand and which facilitated a very speedy review process,“ says Barry. “I think over the last six or seven months I might have had to answer only about three questions.”
"Craig and the team at MNP were able to organize everything in a way that the insurance company could understand and that facilitated a very speedy review process"
Barry O’Brien,
White Owl Energy Services
To learn more about how MNP can help your organization stay focused in times of crisis, reach out to Craig Burkart, National Leader of Insurance Advisory Services.