Ensure your firm is as crisis proof as possible - Clare Bone and Malcolm Gunnyeon

Key elements every business should include in its crisis management preparations

Clare Bone is a partner and health and safety experts at Brodies LLP

Nobody likes to imagine the worst happening, and no business wants to think 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, often at the worst possible time. Here, we suggest some key elements every business should include in its crisis management preparations.

Have a clear and concise crisis management plan

There’s 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, challenging circumstances, and a cumbersome document which is difficult to navigate will exacerbate the difficulties. The best crisis management plans are surprisingly succinct, making clear what the key roles are, who will assume them and what the key actions are in the first 24 hours after an incident. They are a user-friendly guide for your teams, not a textbook.

Focus on three priorities

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. The team responsible for keeping the business running cannot be distracted by contact from the media, and those trying to understand the root cause of the incident cannot be involved in making public statements in case they inadvertently share information that shouldn’t yet be in the public domain.

Be ready to handle external 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, to avoid the risk of two well-intentioned but contradictory statements or, worse still, a comment being made by someone who doesn’t have up-to-date information. Any spokesperson should be senior enough to demonstrate the incident is being taken seriously, but comfortable enough with the media to cope with the barrage of questions. This will not always be your CEO.

Don't forget about social media: 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.

Take appropriate external advice

Get your lawyers, internal or external, involved early- and don’t forget your insurers. Particularly when it comes to public statements, approval from insurers is critical. Don’t run the risk of cover being declined at the worst possible time.

Every business should take the time to put a plan in place. The last thing you want to be is unprepared.

Clare Bone and Malcolm Gunnyeon are partners and health and safety experts, Brodies LLP​