Human Aspect Crisis Planning

March 2004

People - both staff and customers, are an often neglected part of both the planning and response phases of crisis management. Below is a checklist of just a few of the key areas to consider.

Introduction
In the past, business continuity and crisis management has focussed on tangible assets, essentially recovery of systems and data and re-establishment of facilities and services. This all changed in the aftermath of 9/11, where it was realised that the human factor was as critical as the technology and buildings.

Watching the heart wrenching suffering of the people affected by the Madrid bombings has reinforced the need to ensure your contingency plans pay regard to the people elements as well. I have listed below just a few of the many aspects that should be given consideration:

• Identify suitable skilled staff to form your crisis response team. Take into account minimum numbers, in a long running crisis people will burn out if not enough backups exist.
• Take into consideration recent personnel circumstances. Young families and elderly dependents can all affect the availability and willingness of your crisis team.
• Be aware that in a crisis, your crisis team’s core personality traits will be accentuated. We have seen internal politics, competitiveness, jealousy, insecurities and a whole host of other issues all bubble to the surface within crisis management teams.
• Ensure strong leadership during a crisis – this will be crucial if you have any chance of weathering the storm.
• Develop a workable plan – we like lots of checklists. Your crisis team will not have time to read a thick manual in a crisis. Remember, Noah built the Ark before the rains came.
• Clearly define the organisation's expectations of the crisis crisis teams and in turn what they can expect. Issues such as overtime payments and relocation/hardship cover needs to be considered.
• Train the team around your crisis response and exercise the plans on a regular basis. Human performance increases with training and practise. This was something crucial I learnt from my medical training!
• Give your crisis team some education on how people react in a crisis and how people cope with grief – use specialists for this.
• Develop relationships with external suppliers you may need to call upon especially if dealing with loss of life. The role of counselling (or more accurately Psychological Debriefing) in the aftermath of human loss or serious injury is now thought to do more harm than good, but what you will certainly need in the immediate aftermath are people skilled in providing “psychological first aid”. See our June 2003 enews for more on this hot potato!
• Do not shirk your responsibilities as an employer when dealing with real tough stuff. Whatever the cause of the crisis, if it involves human suffering, your staff will want to know that they are working for a ‘caring and compassionate’ organisation.
• Consider the best way to communicate with all your staff on a frequent basis - even those not involved in the crisis response. In our experience, personal face to face team briefings are best.
• Test your ‘call out’ notification system out of office hours. Dedicated systems exist to simplify this task.
• Ensure all employee records are current and include home and mobile numbers. You should also have their emergency contact number and their relationship with the emergency contact listed for all staff. Update this information quarterly.
• Make sure HR can be contacted out of hours – you will need their input if your staff are impacted in any way.
• Make it easy for staff to communicate with your organisation during a crisis. Set up an freephone number that gives out a pre-recorded message of the latest factual information.
• People will be desperate for information in a crisis – your phones could get jammed very quickly. Consider outsourcing this to a specialist supplier.
• Use your website for disseminating information to your staff and customers.
• If invoking a remote site, consider all the practical and logistical issues in advance; transport, accommodation, catering, child care, shift patterns etc.
• If you have a crisis overseas a whole host of other issues will come into play. Time differences, language barriers, variable medical standards, cultural differences in dealing with death and bereavement, poor or non-existent local support, involvement of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office etc. will all come into play. Docleaf have unparallel experience and expertise in this area.
• Be aware of the protocols of ‘death notification’ for the country you live in. In the UK, this is done by the police.
• Provide ongoing support to those who have been personally affected by the crisis. This could include regular hospital visits, frequent communication and possibly attending funerals.
• Give consideration to the most sensitive way of returning the personal effects of staff if dealing with fatalities.

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