Nobody likes to imagine the worst happening, and no business wants to think that it might have to face a crisis. Thankfully, most businesses will never have to deal with a major accident or other critical incident, but they do happen, and inevitably occur without warning at the worst possible time.
Here, we draw on our health and safety team’s experience in critical incident response and major accident investigations across a range of sectors to suggest some of the key elements that every business should include in its crisis management preparations.
What should our crisis management plan look like? It should be clear and concise. There is an understandable temptation to prepare a lengthy plan which considers every possible scenario and sets out detailed protocols and procedures for multiple permutations of each, but this will be even more unhelpful than no plan at all. Your crisis management plan will only ever be used in the most stressful and challenging of circumstances, and a cumbersome document which is difficult to navigate will only exacerbate the difficulties. The best crisis management plans are succinct, making clear what the key roles are, who will assume them and what they key actions are in the first 24 hours after an incident. They are a user-friendly guide for your teams, not a textbook.
What should my team focus on following an incident? In the immediate aftermath of an incident, irrespective of its nature, your business will have three priorities (i) business continuity, (ii) PR and communications, and (iii) incident investigation. Each must have a separate team focussed on it. The team responsible for keeping the business running cannot be distracted by contact from the media, and those who are trying to understand the root cause of the incident cannot be involved in making public statements in case they inadvertently share information that should not yet be in the public domain.
How should my organisation handle media interest? Any critical incident attracts immediate media attention. You need to retain as much control as possible over the external message. The best way to do that is to have a single point of contact for all media inquiries. That avoids the risk of two well-intentioned but contradictory statements or, worse still, a comment being made by someone who does not have the most up to date information. Any spokesperson should be senior enough to demonstrate that the incident is being taken seriously, but comfortable enough with the media to cope with the barrage of questions. This may not be your CEO.
What about social media, do we need to consider it as part of our response plan? – In the modern world you will rarely be the first to know about an incident affecting your business. Photographs and video footage of incidents will be on social media within minutes. Plan how you are going to monitor social media – it can be a useful source of information. What about your own social media channels? Will they be suspended, or have the ability for staff to post or comment restricted? Do you have a policy about what your staff can and cannot say on social media about an ongoing incident? All of these issues must be considered in advance.
What else should my organisation consider when it comes to incident response? Get your lawyers, whether internal or external, involved early and let them deal with the legal issues. Also, don’t forget your insurers. Particularly when it comes to public statements, approval from your insurers is critical. You don’t want to run the risk of cover being declined at the worst possible time.
In reality, uncomplicated, common-sense steps become incredibly challenging in the face of a crisis. Every business should take the time to think about incident response now and put a plan in place. The last thing you want to be is unprepared.
Contact:
Malcolm Gunnyeon, Partner and health and safety expert, Brodies LLP
01224 392 686 or
Clare Bone, Partner and health and safety expert, Brodies LLP
0141 428 4100
