Crisis Management Experts

This past Wednesday’s steam pipe explosion, which tragically took the life of one person and injured many others, was a critical incident that touched and frightened many in New York and across the country.

Rumors were reported to have spread quickly, in the midst of the panic immediately after the incident. One was that this was another terrorist attack; another was that buildings around Grand Central Station were about to collapse. I’m sure there were many others.

New York City officials demonstrated their current sophistication with managing disaster situations during this crisis. Two and a half hours after the blast, Mayor Bloomberg held a news conference, providing factual information about the blast and addressing concerns that a terrorist attack had occurred. His announcement was key to avoiding additional panic and to beginning to quell anxieties. The New York City Office of Emergency Management also kept their website up to date with information related to the explosion and to the risk of asbestos exposure to area workers and residents.

An early official announcement about the critical incident is one that we recommend to companies as soon as we are engaged. Some delay in making this announcement, for fear of providing inaccurate information themselves, or because of liability or other issues. However, quickly disseminating facts, as they are known, is critical to beginning to manage critical incident stress and to keeping an already difficult situation from becoming more complicated and stressful. When rumors are widespread, it is also helpful to disspell them, as quickly as possible, if they are known to be inaccurate.

The first crisis communication is meant to provide: 1) “accurately as known” information about the incident (what happened, where it happened, the status of those in proximity); 2) current safety issues and precautions, if any; 3) workplace operational announcements; 4) communication plan information (the systems that will be utilized for updates, questions, reporting, etc.); and 5) resource availability (such as transportation, shelter, food, clothing, equipment, first aid, and emotional support and intervention).

The critical incident stress management team can also provide information at this time, about the common physical and emotional reactions to critical incident stress and self-care strategies that can be employed. If basic medical and physical needs are still of primary concern, this mental health information can be provided at the next possible juncture.

The first steps taken following a critical incident can greatly influence, positively or negatively, the course of events to follow. The goal is to reduce people’s anxiety and return their sense of normalcy and control as quickly as possible.

This corporate crisis management briefing procedure is our application of multi-disciplinary emergency management principles utilized in the public sector and of the Crisis Management Briefing, developed by Jeffrey Mitchell and George Everly, as one technique within their Critical Incident Stress Management model. Let’s give credit where it’s due.

And kudos to New York, for their effective, early emergency management efforts! In hopes that those, who were directly and indirectly affected, continue to receive the best of services that the emergency management fields can provide.