This is a short video on preparing an incident response plan which is part of our risk management
series of videos.
A crisis can be defined as anything of negative consequence to your business.
Incident response management is a plan that can easily be implemented at the time of a
crisis.
Although crisis events are often unpredictable they're not always unexpected.
Typically these crises can have negative financial, legal, political or governmental repercussions
on the business especially if they are not dealt with in a prompt and effective manner.
Hundreds of threats exist for every business and crises can take many forms including natural
disasters; pandemics; extortion or embezzlement; terrorist attack; industrial accidents; computer
tampering; system failure; product defects or recalls; hazardous material leaks; explosions
or economic downturns.
Of course each business will have their own vulnerabilities and its important that you
spend time identifying those things that could significantly affect the running of your business.
Take a hard look at your business.
Examine potential vulnerabilities from every angle and single out potential problems in
dealing with your customers your employees and even your suppliers.
There are some common characteristics of all crisis events.
They include possible physical danger.
That is the physical safety and protection that should always be your first priority
during a crisis.
They can involve confusion, friction, pressure and stress.
When a crisis hits take a few moments to stop and think.
Try to keep calm.
Issue clear instructions and send for assistance if you need to.
Key people will be busy and unable to do normal duties.
Crisis can make it difficult or even impossible to carry out your normal day-to-day activities.
External support may be required.
You may need to consult with the Police or the Emergency Services.
There may be a lack of quality information, answers and time.
During the first few hours of a crisis you may not know what to say, what to do or what's
really happened so you need to activate your Incident Response Plan to avoid making rash
decisions.
Media and stakeholder interest will be intense so activate your communications plan immediately
when a crisis hits.
Your communication with authorities and stakeholders must be open, honest, timely and accurate.
And remember news travels fast.
When a crisis develops prompt and proactive communication is essential.
The hours and days immediately following a crisis are often the most important in shaping
public perception of the event.
When a crisis hits time is a luxury you'll never have.
Before a specific crisis occurs you need to put together an Incident Response Team with
the expertise to understand and evaluate the crisis and come up with solutions that can
help your business cope with it.
Team members should have a backup and everyone must be clear about their roles.
To be effective an Incident Response Team should include a team leader.
The team leader should be someone who knows the business inside and out and who'll take
full responsibility for the ongoing management of a crisis incident.
Your Response Team.
This team or individual in a small business must be able to make decisions, approve recommendations
and provide direction in the event of a crisis.
Assessors along with their backups are responsible for assessing the business interruption impact
and providing feedback for the entire Incident Response Team.
There should be a spokesperson who should be the one voice responsible for all internal
and external communications and should be trained in dealing with the media.
Your spokesperson must create the impression that the business is under control and the
company knows and understands what is happening and that it will resolve the situation.
Depending on your business you may also include personnel from departments such as HR, IT,
security and other specialists who have specific expertise regarding your business.
During a crisis do not burden your Incident Response Team members with other duties.
The crisis should be their top and only priority.
Your Incident Response Plan should be simple without being simplistic.
Although you will never be able to plan your response in detail for every possible event
remember that people need to be able to react quickly in an emergency.
Stopping to read lots of detail may make that more difficult.
Your plan should include clear direct instructions for the first crucial hour after the crisis
hits; a list of the personnel who have the authority to invoke the plan and under what
circumstances this should occur and when an evacuation should take place.
There should be a list of Response Team members and their backups as well as a detailed explanation
of their roles and functions in response to a crisis.
There should be checklists that people can easily follow.
An evacuation plan.
A ‘GO pack' which is an emergency kit containing critical documents and equipment which can
be picked up quickly and easily and carried off-site.
There should be contact lists for both external and internal personnel and an Event Log to
record information, decisions and actions in the period immediately following the critical
event or incident.
The first hour of any crisis is vital.
If a critically injured person is treated within one hour their chances of survival
increase significantly.
The same applies to crisis management for businesses.
If your crisis response is quick your chance of business survival increases.
Keep on top of the crisis and communicate changes in the situation as quickly as you
can.
There's often no way to tell how long your particular crisis will last so regularly assessing
the momentum of the situation is a good idea.
Ask yourself: What is the worst thing that can happen to your business?
How will you deal with it?
If there's even a slight chance it could happen assume that it will and develop strategies
to deal with it.
Social media can play an important role in crisis communication and emergency management.
The Queensland Police Service Media Unit twitter account has played a leading role in disseminating
timely and relevant information to the public during crisis situations in Queensland.
For more information on risk management topics, visit the website on your screen.