Article by: Sara Pantaleo
The world is changing rapidly, and it’s essential to be prepared for anything that may happen at a moment’s notice. Recent global events have shown us just how vulnerable we all are!
An emergency response plan will ensure your business has what they need when faced with an unexpected crisis. Preparing a crisis management plan is essential for any business. It ensures that your team has detailed procedures and knows how to execute them during emergencies.
Having a crisis management plan may help you to avoid a crisis or at least minimise its impacts by identifying risks before they happen and taking action before it becomes too late.
Alignment with all plans & policies
When counselling on a crisis communications plan, we review all current policies and emergency plans. One critically important reason is that they have to work together!
For example, having an operational notification process but something else entirely when dealing with issues during public relations or press events. This will cause confusion, leading to mistakes due to contradicting plans and policies.
Assigned crisis team
Every crisis communications plan should have the necessary steps and contact information for notifying your team quickly. The key to handling a crisis is being prepared for when it happens. Also, it is essential to identify a backup person if something goes wrong and the first contact cannot be reached. When crisis strikes, the team must have representation from across different departments. This includes leaders in communications and human resources as well as environmental health & safety operations, legal customer service etc… Every function must be represented at all times during an emergency so they can help keep things running smoothly for you!
Crisis training
I can’t emphasise enough how important it will be for you and your team to familiarise themselves with the plan once it has been prepared; training your team to roll out the program is critical to avoid mistakes and problems should a crisis arise.
Team members will be able to identify gaps in their understanding of how the crisis management plan works after being trained on it. If left unchecked, these errors could add another issue, so everyone needs thorough training! Doubly important, you can fix any problems with the plan before ever needing to use it. Come an emergency, you’ll handle things most efficiently at the moment.