Managing a Crisis at Your

CompanyTom Stahr – Robinette Demolition Inc. Chicago, IL USA

Emergency Response Division Manager

What is a Crisis?

The result of a sudden, serious (negative) happening or catastrophic event…..

A crisis has an immediate and profound impact on your business as a whole.

What Can Cause a Crisis?

Natural Disasters

Organizational Trauma

Jobsite Accidents

Injury or Illness

Acts of Violence

Acts of Terrorism

Why Plan for a Crisis?

Pre-planning can save lives

Pre-planning can prevent further damage to organization and/or property

Pre-planning - - - Saves Money! (Legal fees, insurance rates, medical costs, lost production, bad publicity, etc.)

Pre-planning allows you to accomplish MOST of the work that you would have to do after a crisis, before it happens.

By Planning Ahead…..

You can act immediately and wisely

You and your people understand your roles during a crisis

You have time to plan and practice different scenarios

You can be prepared to address employees, family members, the media, public officials, etc.

You can focus on dealing with the crisis, and not on HOW to deal with it.

What can you do now?

Form a crisis management team

Perform a risk assessment *

Develop plans for various risks

Determine responsibilities

Develop statements ahead of time

Prepare Checklists

Practice

Form a team to manage the crisis

Company Owner

Director

Project Manager

Foreman

Safety Director

Legal Counsel

Whoever else you can trust during a crisis

Develop Crisis Plans

Develop plans appropriate to the crisis your risk assessment determined that you could face

Each plan should: Ensure methods of communication between employees;

management and public officials; management and employees; management and employees families; etc.

Determine various responsibilities Plan practice sessions/drills Plan an evaluation and audit process Include pre-planned statements Include post-crisis recovery steps

An Example Crisis….. There has been a large unplanned collapse at your worksite.

There are multiple injuries/ victims

There are dozens of workers on the jobsite that belong to other contractors

There is a large crowd gathering and many people are taking pictures or movies via mobile phones

Imagine it….

A large crowd continues to get larger

People are screaming and running around

You don’t know who might be injured or hurt

Work on the whole jobsite has stopped

There is chaos and confusion

Now imagine this…..

Your foreman recognizes that the situation is truly a crisis

As soon as time allows, he finds his checklist and begins to follow his pre-planned instructions

His checklist can be a plastic card in his wallet; in a folder in his tool box with his paperwork; or on his laptop, PDA, or iPad.

Foreman’s Checklist

Call emergency services immediately

Use prepared statement if possible, if not, train your people on what to say, and what NOT to say

“My name is _____. There has been an accident at the following worksite address _______. There may be as many as (10) people injured and the scene is still dangerous. Send ambulances and police.”

Answer any questions asked by emergency response operator

Secure and isolate the scene

Get crowd back Shield the victims if possible Make way for ambulances and send a guide to

entrance Work with General Contractor to stop work at

site Assist with victim care if appropriate

Assist emergency personnel as needed List of employees onsite Headcount of safe employees Possible jobsite hazards etc.

Contact your Crisis Management Team Leader

Quickly gather as much information as possible about what happened

Notify your Crisis Team Leader

Advise them of situation

Review your procedures and the actions you’ve taken so far, and discuss your next actions

Discuss and prepare initial statement content prior to the crisis team leader arriving onsite.

Preparing Statements

Communication during and after a crisis can be the single most helpful, or harmful, activity a crisis manager can do.

Effective communication is essential to saving both lives and money, and can be the difference between saving your company, and losing it.

Preparing Statements

Determine what information to release, and to whom (i.e. other employees, families, the media, government agencies, etc.) as part of your Crisis Management Plan ahead of time

Immediately after an incident, do not disclose any information that has not been discussed with Crisis Team Leader

Initially, defer questions about specific details until your “spokesman” arrives at a later time.

Preparing Statements

Consider the following when drafting statements ahead of time:

Emergency calls are recorded, and can be used later as evidence

Police scanners are often monitored by civilians

These days, there will almost always be a large amount of photographic and video evidence of the accident that you won’t know about (some of it from your own employees). Never contradict the evidence!

Initial Statement Example There was a collapse at the worksite a short while ago.

Injured employees are being attended to by emergency personnel (Never speculate on victims conditions, even when you think it is obvious).

The accident is currently under investigation, so we don’t have any details at this time.

I will not be answering questions at this time, but our spokesman will be onsite at ______. He/she will have an updated statement at that time, and you can direct any questions to him/her.

Now, I must get back to work. Thank you.

Crisis Management Team Leader Identify yourself to the appropriate people when

you arrive onsite.

Assume primary management responsibility for your company

Inform officials, media, and others that you will be the one making statements and giving information to the appropriate people

Gather as much information as possible regarding the incident.

Begin drafting more detailed statements for public, officials, victims families, etc.

Initiate an investigation and act to preserve any evidence necessary.

Statement Guidelines The following are guidelines that can be

used when formulating statements to the media, and others throughout the recovery process.

Do’s & Don’ts

DO make sure the reporters know you are the only official spokesperson.

DO talk. Saying a little is better than saying nothing.

DO tell the truth. Reporters will find it out anyway, so be honest.

Do’s and Don’ts

• DON’T discuss fault or blame.

• DON’T discuss damages or estimated costs.

• DON’T have the president of the company be the spokesperson. He shouldn’t be saying “I don’t know” or I didn’t know”.

• DON’T AD-LIB… Notes are a good thing.

After the Crisis Your plan should include a section on what

to do about the following issues, as needed, after a crisis

Back to work issues

Insurance/Legal issues

Stress Management

Medical - Family Issues

Incident Investigation

Evidence Preservation

Critique of the company’s response to the crisis

Review

Recognize the need for Crisis Management

Form a team to deal with any crisis at your company

Determine what crisis COULD happen to your company

To the extent possible, develop plans ahead of time to deal with those crisis

Familiarize people with what constitutes a crisis, and what their responsibilities will be during a crisis

Train and test your people

Critique their responses and adapt your plans accordingly