Back to Facility Manager
Contents
Back to Home 
|
By Joseph J. DesPlaines
During the past decade we’ve seen a significant number of high profile
crises that resulted in large numbers of injuries and fatalities and have
challenged crisis managers. When a discussion of this topic begins, most
people immediately think about the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Yet within
this 10-year period we’ve witnessed other terrorist events, including
anthrax bioterrorism, the bombings in London, Madrid and Bali, and the
recent terror threat to U.S. commercial airliners in the United Kingdom.
In
addition to terrorism, we’ve also seen mass-casualty natural disasters,
including the South Asian Tsunami, floods and forest fires across the United
States and the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. Finally, public
health crises such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak
and the fear of an Avian Flu Pandemic present an entirely new set of crisis
management concerns.
Each crisis is unique: The response to a hurricane along the Gulf Coast
differs from the response to a terrorist act in New York, which is unlike
the response needed for an explosion outside of a crowded football stadium
in the Midwest. This makes it difficult to develop universal guidelines to
provide a recipe for responding to a crisis.
However, after working directly on many of the aforementioned crises, as
well as discussions with government and private sector crisis managers, it
seems to me that there is a series of common lessons to be learned. These
lessons can help guide the development of crisis management and response
programs.
The following are 10 lessons based on practical experience in planning for,
anticipating, and responding to a crisis involving a large number of
casualties. One note at the start: These observations are made from a
30,000-foot, macro level. Sports and entertainment facilities and venues
must bring these lessons to a scale that’s appropriate to their individual
location, staff, resources and circumstances.
1. Assessment is first; preparedness is second.
To create a truly effective crisis management and response system, a venue
or facility must understand its strengths and limitations. A comprehensive
risk assessment can provide critical information that drives the creation of
subsequent crisis management and response planning. Crisis planning must
consider the impact on the business of likely risk scenarios.
A good risk assessment will evaluate exposure to a variety of critical
events, including natural and man-made disasters. The results of such an
assessment are not pass or fail; rather, they will help an organization
identify the questions that need to be answered to have the most effective
business continuity/crisis management and response system available.
2. Develop a road map from chaos to control.
Once an assessment is completed, a business continuity/crisis
management and response plan can be created. While it may be tempting to go
online and purchase a generic plan, this one-sizefits- all approach to
 business continuity
and crisis planning isn’t very effective. It fails to recognize the unique
circumstances of an individual organization, including geographic location,
size of crowd exposure, availability of local responders, level of
preparedness, available employee and financial resources, etc.
The plan should be driven by questions raised in the assessment and must be
specific to the organization. Hotel and conference
 center crisis plans are
unique to the nature of their business and put great emphasis on evacuation
in case of fire, while an amusement park crisis plan will put as much
emphasis on responding to a casualty producing ride accident. However, in
both cases, the situation immediately following a crisis is chaotic and
confusing, and a good plan will help an organization restore a level of
control.
Available resources will influence how elaborate a plan may be. However,
some of the most effective plans have been developed and implemented on a
modest budget. Also, the plan must
“While it may be tempting to go online and purchase a generic plan, this
one-size-fits-all approach to business continuity and crisis planning isn’t
very effective.” be viewed as an investment in business recovery and
business continuity in the event of a crisis.
3. It’s worthless without training.
Many
venues have comprehensive and complete plans sitting on shelves, gathering
dust. Key managers must understand the plan and their role in the event of a
crisis. This is typically accomplished through annual training that devotes
a half to a full day to discussing and understanding the plan, individual
roles and responsibilities, and other relevant procedures. Training is
particularly important to orient new employees to the organizational plan.
4. Testing is required.
How do you know
the plan works? The only way, short of an actual crisis, is to conduct a
tabletop exercise and/or full-scale simulation. A tabletop exercise can be
used to test specific components of the plan or an entire crisis planning
process. Tabletop exercises usually involve a discussion of roles and
responsibilities in response to specific crisis scenarios. Full-scale
simulations test an entire crisis management and response plan. They can be
very elaborate and based on specific threats to the organization. To
maximize effectiveness, fullscale simulations usually involve local first
responders, including law enforcement, emergency medical services, fire,
media, etc.
5. Mass casualty events mean mass media coverage.
A crisis that involves significant injuries and loss of life can
become sensationalized very quickly in the media. Every venue and facility
needs to understand that media coverage will be intense. In today’s CNN
world, there’s no place to hide from reporters and TV coverage. However, you
can have a positive impact on some of the reporting by planning, preparing
and practicing for the media.
6 and 7. The public expects an organization to
demonstrate support and compassion following a crisis.
Also, a
large number of telephone inquiries will occur in the hours and days
immediately following a crisis, easily reaching hundreds of calls per hour.
These two lessons are closely tied together and reflect an important, but
often unanticipated, aspect of a mass casualty crisis: the intense interest
by the general public on the impact of the crisis on victims and their
families. This was clearly demonstrated in the mid-1990s, when airline
treatment of victim families in the wake of plane crashes was considered so
poor and public reaction so negative that Congress enacted the Aviation
Disaster Family Assistance Act of 1996. This law mandated specific support
tasks that airlines must complete in responding to victims and their
families.
 Sports
and entertainment venues and facilities must realize that a crisis response
doesn’t end with resolution of the immediate crisis. In fact, in today’s
world, organizational reputation may be damaged by its lack of preparedness
or its ineffective response to victims and their families. The level of
compassion and support demonstrated by an organization following a crisis
contributes to long-term business viability.
8. Providing family and employee care and
assistance is as important as finding the cause of the disaster.
One absolute in crisis response is that the media will always follow victims
and their families. This practice sends a clear message: Organizations must
anticipate and attend to victim and family needs and provide whatever
support is necessary to assist
Organizations that have experienced a crisis must communicate their concern
and compassion through the media to the public.”
victims and their families through the immediate crisis. At the same time,
organizations that have experienced a crisis must communicate their concern
and compassion through the media to the public.
9. Disaster recovery is different from business
continuity.
Over the past 10 years, we’ve come to appreciate that
business continuity planning — that is, ensuring that an organization has
anticipated a variety of crisis threats and can remain operational after a
crisis — is more important and goes beyond disaster recovery. Recovery is
concerned with picking up the pieces, repairing the building, getting
systems running again, etc. Business continuity is maintaining an ability to
stay in business, to anticipate and survive a catastrophic event and move
forward.
The way Johnson & Johnson handled the Tylenol crisis in 1982, when a deadly
poison was injected into some Tylenol capsules causing the death of a number
of people, is a classic example. Johnson & Johnson’s thoughtful, caring
response to the crisis enabled it not only to survive but also grow market
share in subsequent years.
Business continuity planning has become sophisticated and involves a full
continuum of tasks ranging from a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) to identify
threats and vulnerabilities through crisis response and recovery plans.
Given current world events, it’s wise that so many organizations are
investing the time and resources in developing comprehensive business
continuity plans.
10. Business continuity and crisis management plans
are always works-in-progress.
Business continuity and
crisis management planning is an ongoing process that must be maintained on
at least an annual basis, because in today’s business environment the only
constant is change. Employees move up or out to other organizations,
business units are sold while new businesses are acquired, and new
technology is implemented.
These changes often bring new threats that must be addressed. A schedule of
maintenance that includes annual assessment, plan modification, refresher
training and testing will keep the business continuity and crisis management
and response plan vital and relevant.
These 10 lessons present a context for thinking about business continuity
and crisis management and response, and creating an effective crisis
management system. Every sports and entertainment venue and facility must
consider its individual circumstances and characteristics as it approaches
this task. However, there are clear benefits in learning from the lessons
learned from past crises.
Joseph J. DesPlaines is
senior vice president, risk services for American Specialty Insurance & Risk
Services Inc., based in Roanoke, Ind. |
|
