Insurance Insights ~ August 1999

What If...

Every office is packed with electronic equipment. These items are a very expensive part of your office operation. Look around! Calculators, computers, phones, copy and fax machines, the list goes on and on. Any equipment with a circuit board inside is considered electronic equipment. If you store electronic data such as computer information, that is called media. What if fire or water damages electrical equipment or media? What should you do, or not do? Should it be replaced or can it be restored?

The following is a set of guidelines for electronic and media restoration. Servpro Industries, Inc. compiled this list featured in Restoration Newsline, a bi-monthly newsletter provided for insurance industry members.

This excerpt is used by permission. Special thanks to Ed Simms from SERVPRO OF WARMINSTER/LANSDALE for doing the legwork for granting permission. The guidelines are reprinted accurately as published. The use of this excerpt by our agency is not to be considered an endorsement or advertisement for Servpro Industries, Inc. or their affiliates. Nor has any compensation been provided for its use.

Electronic Restoration Guidelines

• Even if there is heavy soot or heat damage to a computer, do not discard it and do not turn it on to see if it works. An electronic restoration vendor maybe able to retrieve the data from the hard drive and the data may be much more valuable than the computer itself. Consider a business that has all its accounts receivable, accounts payable and customer files on the computer. Loss of that information could literally ruin the company. SERVPRO has reliable subcontractors who will also be able to assist in dealing with a fire or water damage to an industrial facility with computer controlled machinery.
• After a fire or water damage, don’t let electronics cool to the dew point. This causes condensation and corrosion. Maintain the temperature above the dew point. If a circuit board corrodes, it is ruined. The circuits on a circuit board are very small, so the amount of corrosion necessary to ruin the board is minute.
• Ultrasonic cleaning for computers and electronics is not recommended. Some welds and solder joints in electronics are made by an ultrasonic welder. Putting these items in an ultrasonic cleaning machine may cause these connections to come apart. The most effective cleaning method is to remove the circuit boards, pressure spray them and then rinse with deionized water. All residues must be removed and components completely dried. Effective drying requires a temperature of about 180 degrees for several hours.

Media Restoration Guidelines

• Lower humidity as soon as possible. A 25% relative humidity (RH) is recommended for videos and paper photographs. To achieve a relative humidity of 25%, these items may need to be removed from the damaged structure and set up in a dehumidification chamber.
• Don’t try to clean or repair media. Damage is likely unless you have special equipment for cleaning and repairing.
• Don’t run damaged videos, tapes, or CDs on equipment. It will damage the equipment and media.
• To determine if a CD is damaged too severely for restoration, hold the CD up to the light. If it has scratches that you can see through, it’s permanently damaged.
• If CD-ROM disks have deep scratches they are permanently damaged.
• CDs may be washed with a soft cloth and mild soap. Rinse and dry thoroughly. Be careful not to scratch.
• Video game cartridges probably can be restored by a professional media restoration company if they don’t rattle and there is no distortion of the case.
• If vinyl records are not warped, they probably can be cleaned and restored by a professional media restoration vendor.
• X-ray and microfiche should be treated the same as video film.
• Plastic video cases are porous enough to absorb odors. Professional media restoration vendors can replace the case.
• Do not leave wet photographs in a stack. Separate them and dry in a 25% RH environment or send them to a professional media restoration vendor.
• DVD, DAT, Beta tapes and computer backup tapes must be treated immediately. If they dry before cleaning the tape sticks together and is ruined. Remove the water, put tapes in a zip lock bag with a moist cloth and ship for cleaning and restoration.
• When boxing or drying videos always set the video on edge with the door down, not laying flat.
• Always make a list of titles of CDs, videos, tapes and records for accurate appraisal.

Will You Live Your Dream?

We have all dreamed about what our retirement will be like. There will be travelling, dining out, and enjoying long walks on a beach without a care in the world. We will enjoy our golden years without worry, or will we?

Unfortunately the reality of what the baby boomers’ golden years may be like are not what dreams are made of. There are many issues that are frightening when you factor in how times have changed. With the threat of social security being depleted, medical insurance costs rising and insurance companies canceling coverage, the average life expectancy increasing as medical technology improves, and having to work many more years past age 65, the time is now to start making plans for the future.

Providing for your retirement at an early age is imperative. It is getting more difficult to provide for your retirement that will allow you to enjoy this time in your life. Changes in taxation are making it hard to put away tax-free retirement money, colleges costs are escalating, and health care costs are rising. It is wise to start planning NOW.

You should contact your financial services advisor and insurance agent to discuss the following issues:

• Individual Retirement Plans
• Retirement Annuities
• Deferred Compensation
• Qualified Retirement Plans
• Life Insurance
• Health Insurance
• Long Term Care Insurance

In order to for your dreams to become a reality, begin planning soon and chart your course. Don’t rely on others to take care of you!

INSURANCE INSIGHTS is an electronic newsletter published monthly by G. C. Weimer Associates, Inc. Information contained herein is accurate to the best of our knowledge and belief as of 8/1/99. If you have a topic of interest for a future issue, e-mail us at info@gcwinsure.com.