Natural disaster disruptions have rocketed to the top of the list of concerns for NZ businesses, according to the latest Marsh risk survey.

This has remained one of the key areas in the past three biennial surveys, and it’s not surprising business disruption is now at the top of the list following the Canterbury earthquake and numerous aftershocks and snowstorms.

Marsh says although only 17% of survey respondents came from the earthquake region, the event has clearly impacted on businesses across the country and reinforces the need for good business continuity plans.

The survey also shows destruction of assets from weather-associated events such as fire and flood is the second highest of the top five risk factors, up from number four in 2008.

But despite the concerns over these risks, 16.9% of respondents didn’t have plans in place to account for business disruption during times of natural disasters.

NZ Head of Marsh Grant Milne says this would suggest some organisations believe that as long as they have insurance cover they will be in “good stead”.

“However, we have learned… from the Canterbury earthquake [that] it’s not so much the damage to the assets of a business that can cause it to topple but more the ongoing impact to revenue and income as a flow-on from the physical damage,” he said.

Loss of data from security failure, corruption or hacking remains at number three on the list, while the issue of fluctuating exchange rates made it into the top five risk factors for the first time since the 2004 survey.

The top concern two tears ago was concern over a drop in demand. This has fallen to fifth place.

Mr Milne says the survey results “reinforce the importance of not only having the right insurance policy in place… but also having good risk management strategies to support them”.

“It is also a reminder that insurance policies need regular review.”