Firestorm Hurricane Irene Business Crisis Management Response Team – AVAILABLE NOW

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Business Crisis Management Response

Firestorm Hurricane Irene Business Crisis Management Response Team – AVAILABLE NOW: (800) 321-2219

In response to Hurricane Irene, it is important that crisis management steps be initiated immediately in response to power outages, flooding, damage from flooding, fire and other disaster-related issues that will be revealed as flood waters recede.

Begin by determining the extent of the problem and notifying management and key employees. After hours calling trees have traditionally been used for this contact. Automated methods similar to reverse 911 and broadcast emails are in favor to expedite this process.

“A best practice after hours is to ask crisis team contacts on the calling tree to dial into an always available conference call line for the initial crisis management session.”

The crisis management team should include the CEO, senior officers, and key personnel representing operations, security, marketing, human resources and public information. The senior business continuity officer and his staff facilitate the crisis management discussion and decision making.

Depending on the severity of the crisis, a command center is set up including PC’s, white boards, and phone lines. As status information flows into the command center, it is useful to record it on the white board for the crisis team to see at a glance.

Roles and Responsibilities in a Crisis

• Human Resources is charged with updating employee information phone recordings and web site with status and instructions.
• The security officer should communicate with fire and law enforcement, if necessary.
• Marketing should develop customer communications, and public information should craft carefully worded statements for the media/social media outlets.
• It is imperative that media inquiries be referred to an experienced, designated spokesperson.
• The secretary to the board or CEO should inform directors, when appropriate.
• The command center is staffed around the clock, and team members are rotated until the crisis passes and full recovery is completed.

 Time is of the essence in crisis management, and it deserves its own plan specifying participant responsibilities. A measure of success is that the dimensions of the crisis are known and recovery activities are begun within the first few hours. In the absence of a tested crisis management plan, the crisis management process can be a turbulent and reactive instead of a calm and productive experience.

Incident/Emergency Response Plan

Implementing an emergency response plan enables a timely response to a disruptive event, with the objective of protecting people and property, while enabling an efficient recovery effort that satisfies stakeholder expectations.  Our Emergency Response Team – (800) 321-2219 – is available to assist with: 

• Establishing emergency response objectives and assumptions.
• Developing emergency response team roles and responsibilities.
• Identify primary / alternate assignments.
• Collect emergency response team contact information and document call tree procedures.
• Design a triggering process, escalation criteria and declaration criteria; establish and document authority levels.
• Document actions by phases, disruption or crisis for incident response at the impacted site.
• Document or attach evacuation and shelter‐in‐place procedures.
• Develop and document response procedures that align to the emergency response objectives and assumptions; develop processes to enable recovery procedures.
• Establish and document communications strategies to internal and external resources/ stakeholders; summarize media handling procedures; document crisis communications holding statements.
• Create a damage assessment process and assign personnel.

We’re Firestorm and this is what we do. We are nationally recognized for our expertise in these situations, and we’re here to help now.  (800) 321-2219

“The Consumer Federation of America warns those facing hurricane damage to report claims quickly and keep detailed, thorough notes on the claim, as well as any receipts for expenses spent dealing with the damage.”

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