When Things Go Wrong
Emergency Response and the News
Media
Will you be prepared?
What Interests the News Media?
Crisis
Conflict
Danger
Death
Drama
Destruction
Threats to Life and Property
Important People, Places and Things
Accidents and Incidences
What Are The Leading Causes?
Human causes
1. Inattention
2. Failure to follow procedures
3. Short cuts
4. Carelessness
5. Intentional act
6. Lack of training and or supervision
Accidents and Incidences
Leading Causes
• Mechanical
1. Power Failure / Surge
2. Equipment malfunction
3. Misuse of equipment
4. Outside influence affecting operations
Vehicle accident
Weather related event
Earthquake
Explosion
When Things Go Wrong!
What’s Your Plan(s) of Action?
• You should already have on hand a plan that
addresses:
• Standard Operating Policies and Procedures
• Emergency Operating Procedures for
Accidents and Injuries.
• Emergency Operating Procedures for
Notification to Public Safety Agencies
• Emergency Operating Procedures for
Evacuation of the Facility
Business Plan Requirements
•
•
•
•
•
Emergency Contacts Information
Inventory – Quantities
Site Map
Emergency Response Plan
Employee Training
When Things Go Wrong!
• Get a responsible person to call 911
• Clearly state the nature of the emergency and
location of the emergency.
• Advise weather or not there are injuries, people
trapped or a rescue situation
• Advise if there is a known toxic or hazardous
situation and if an evacuation is in progress.
• Stay calm and answer the Dispatchers questions
slowly and clearly, do not hang up until told to do
so.
When Things Go Wrong!
• Implement Emergency Operating Procedures
• Be sure to have responsible person meet the
arriving Emergency Response Personnel at a
specific location.
• Have appropriate emergency information
readily available ie. Specific incident details,
Accounting of employees, MSDS, keys for
access etc.
Now That You’re The News
What do you do?
• Hide ? Not a good idea
• Stonewall and be evasive? Not a good idea.
• Order them off the property or keep them
away? A management decision or Policy,
probably.
• Are they going to go away? No! The news
media will get their story.
PIO Duties & Responsibilities
• Primary contact between news media and
incident personnel.
• Relieve the IC and incident personnel from
having to deal with news media
• Gather Facts and Information regarding the
incident
• Communicate important public information to
the news media and general public
PIO Duties & Responsibilities
• Track down and dispel rumors
• Keep incident personnel and cooperating
agencies informed
• Arrange for and assist the news media in
securing appropriate interviews with incident
management personnel
• Work with business and industry
representatives to get facts and information
Conveying the Facts and
Information
• The “Agency Information Officer” is looking
for the facts as they are known at the time, an
investigation will reveal more accurate details
later.
• Who, What, Where, When, Why, and how is
the basic information we’re looking for.
• The Why and How may not initially be known.
What’s an ideal Situation ?
“Not having an Incident
or Accident Happen”
Working Together During an
Incident
• Let’s meet and discuss Facts as they are known
• Tell me about Proprietary Information issues
• Tell me about your concerns with the news
media and your companies policy.
• Agree that it’ OK to disagree
• Understand I have an obligation to provide
emergency public information, and the public
has a right to know what the FD is doing to
protect them and keep them safe.
Wouldn’t it be nice to say. .
•
•
•
•
ABC Company had an emergency incident today.
They had an Emergency Response Plan
They implemented the Plan
The problem has been isolated and does not pose
a risk to the community or employees.
• There were no injuries
• The situation is stable and workers will be back
to work in a few minutes.
Wouldn’t it be nice to say
• An investigation revealed the cause was a
mechanical failure.
• ABC Company has an on-going worker safety
program and in this case the training paid off,
the company was able to be back up and
operational after only one hour.
What You Don’t Want!
• ABC Company has a history of incidents
• The company has repeatedly failed to do
proper maintenance and repairs.
• ABC Company has many outstanding
equipment and safety violations.
• ABC Company has been issued a “Stop Work
Order” for the fourth time this year.
• ABC Company has a history of noncompliance with several regulatory agencies.
In Conclusion
• The PIO is on scene to get important public
information (Facts and Information) and
convey to the public what actions are being
taken to help ensure public safety and to
inform the public so that they may make
informed decisions about what actions they
will take.
Emergency Public Information
verses Public Relations
• The PIO is looking for emergency public
information and works with the news media to
keep the public informed.
• The PIO is not the Public Relations Agent for
your business or company, that is someone
else’s responsibility.
Expect the Unexpected
•
•
•
•
Be Prepared! Have Plan
Practice the Plan
Provide Employee Training
If you use the plan take time to evaluate how
well it worked.
• Update the plan with necessary changes.
THANKS
The End