Introduction

This interactive conference provides participants with the knowledge and practical skills required to effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover from organizational crises. It focuses on strategic crisis management, emergency planning, business continuity, decision-making, communication, and incident response. Through case studies, simulations, and workshops, participants will learn how to minimize risks, protect organizational reputation, and coordinate effective crisis response strategies.

Objectives

Delegates attending will:

• Acquire an in-depth knowledge of the key aspects of Strategic Crisis Management
• Learn how to identify incidents and crises so you can cultivate and harness the potential successes of a crisis.
• At the incident site learn how to avoid mismanagement and so make a bad situation worse.
• Learn how to generate ownership and responsibility by all stakeholders to ensure your organization responds efficiently and effectively.
• Learn how to recognize and prioritize the issues that are most likely to affect corporate reputation during and after crisis.
• Learn the fundamentals of organizing and managing Crisis or Emergency Control Centres.
• Learn how to plan and manage multi-agency exercises - and make them more rewarding and exciting.
• Take away step by step guidance on how to validate plans, to improve staff ownership, to augment training programs and to raise awareness.

Target Audience

• Crisis Management and Emergency Response Professionals
• Business Continuity and Risk Management Specialists
• HSE and Security Managers
• Senior Managers and Executives
• Operations and Facility Managers
• Corporate Communication and Public Relations Professionals
• Emergency Planning Coordinators
• Government and Public Sector Officials involved in crisis response
• Team Leaders responsible for incident management and business continuity
• Organizations seeking to strengthen crisis preparedness and resilience

Outlines 

The conference has been designed to be interactive with several case studies and group exercises. A modular approach will take the delegates through the four stages of Crisis Management - Preparation, Planning, Response and Recovery. Participative lectures will involve the use of PowerPoint, handout material, work manual with all instructor notes and slides, examples of best practice and appropriate video/DVD material. The use of flip-charts, syndicate workshops, and reporting back sessions will encourage a fully participative and enjoyable event.

Day 1: What should be in place before the event?

• Understanding Crisis Management
  • How to manage a crisis?
  • Virtually every crisis contains the seeds of success as well as the roots of failure
  • The Rationale of the Crisis Manager
• Consider the range of risks: Natural/Environmental; Hazards; Technological - loss of utilities/product/process/plant; Human Error; Sabotage and Terrorism
• Crisis Managers - Roles & Responsibilities - manage the issue before it becomes a Crisis
• Who else inside and outside the organization should be involved?
• Evaluating your risks and vulnerabilities; Consider the worse-case scenarios
• Understanding 'denial-curve' and 'group-think' syndromes
• Who decides who sits in the 'hot-seat'?
• Case Studies, why some companies fail and others survive?

Day 2: Pre-planning, who and what else should be considered?

• Who owns the mitigation process?
  • Self-evaluating questionnaires
• Developing and Implementing Emergency Plans
• Twelve point checklist covering the whole planning process
• Mutual Aid arrangements
• Company-wide strategic contingency plans
• Service or departmental plans
• Building evacuation plans
• Crisis Management and Communications. Emergency Centre/s
• Developing and implementing a Business Continuity Management (BCM) strategy
• Business Impact Analysis. Case Study and Workshop

Day 3: Dealing with a crisis - the 'communications' perspective

• Command and Control Issues
  • Operational (at the scene)
  • Tactical (at the forward control point/incident command)
  • Strategic (boardroom level/emergency operations center)
• On Scene Crisis Management, essential elements for success
• Reputation Management - Managing the Media. 'How to' sessions include:
• Organizing a Press Conference
• Conducting Radio and Television Interviews
• Case Study Exercise: Crisis Communications Strategy. Develop a crisis communications strategy and action plan based upon a given scenario

Day 4: Incident Management & Aftermath

• Alerting and Warning. Case Studies. What can go right and what can go wrong
• Case Studies - Texas City Disasters 1947 and April 2005
• Major Incident Simulation - Role Playing Workshop
  • Syndicate selection
  • Reporting back
• Potential Psychological & Welfare problems in Crisis Management
• How to improve staff morale and confidence in the process
• The psychological effects during and after an incident involving injuries - and worse
• Looking after yourself and your staff
• A questionnaire, are your batteries in good condition?

Day 5: Essential post-incident actions

• Validating plans and procedures
  • Discuss the four types of exercise
  • How to get the most out of an exercise
• Post Incident evaluations
• De-briefing skills - managing the de-briefs - hot and cold
• How to keep all 'stakeholders' informed
• Prioritising the Recommendations
• Examples of critique questionnaires
• Critique report writing, executive summaries and recommendations
• Closing the loop. How to continue the process
• Case Study - Buncefield Oil Depot, Hertfordshire UK, 2005