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emergency and crisis response plan
emergency and crisis response plan
case study of FEMA
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INTRODUCTION An ‘emergency’ is ‘an unplanned event that can cause deaths or significant injuries to employees, customers or the public; or that can shut down business, disrupt operations, cause physical or environmental damage, or threaten the facility’s financial standing or public image’ (en.wikipedia.org, n.a.) in (FEMA, 1993). Emergencies such as aircraft accidents are extremely sensitive to manage and often draw public attentions and sympathies across the globe. For instance, the crash of Air France 447 aircraft on 01 June 2009 attracted one of the highest numbers of stakeholders involvement in the history of aviation accidents (pbs.org., 2010). A typical aircraft accident would therefore, directly or indirectly involve victims, victims’ relations, stakeholders and the general public. There is therefore, the need to prepare to handle accident situation, victims, victims’ families, stakeholders and concerned public professionally with utmost sensitivity and immediacy. The concept of Emergency Response Plan (ERP) is based on these needs. Professor Spranza defines ERP as an outlines in writing what actions should be taken following an accident and who is responsible for each action (aviationclub.aero, n.a.). As aircraft accident is inevitable, in order to avoid or reduce significant losses to a business, it is essential that airliners identify, anticipate and implement processes to respond to emergencies to mitigate their magnitude and duration of impact (en.wikipedia.org., n.a.). Of importance, likewise, are plans to ensure Business Continuity of critical operations post-incident. Several attributes come into play during emergency such as leadership, resource management and effective communication. Consequently, an ERP harn... ... middle of paper ... ...e of the issue-attention cycle. Current Issues in Tourism, 5(5), 458–466. Ritchie, B.W.(2003). Chaos, crises and disasters: a strategic approach to crisis management in the tourism industry Journal of Tourism Management 25 (2004) 669–683. Coombs, T. (1999). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing and responding. Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage. Smallman, C., and Weir, D. (1999). Communication and cultural distortion during crises. Disaster Prevention and Management, 8(1), 33–41. Camey and Jorden (1993). Preparation for business-related crisis. Public Relations Journal 49, 34-35. Hearit (1994). Apologies and public relations crises at Chrysler, Toshiba, and Volvo. Public Relations Review, 20(2), 113-125. Arpan and Ewoldsen (2005). Stealing thunder: An analysis of effects of proactive disclosure of crisis information. Public Relations Review 31(3), 425-433.
Vasterman, P., Yzermans, C. J., & Dirkzwager, A. J. (2005). The role of the media and media hypes in the aftermath of disasters. Epidemiologic reviews, 27(1), 107-114.
The National response plan outlines four key actions the disaster coordinator should take. They are gaining and maintaining situational awareness, activate and deploy key resources and capabilities, coordinating response actions and demobilizing. Throughout the response it is essential that responders have access to critical information. During the initial response effort the situation is will change rapidly. Situational awareness starts at the incident site. For this reason it is essential that decision makers have access to the right information at the right time. By establishing an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) all key responders are brought ...
The article explains how and why organizations use specific types of action and specific types of artifact in their crisis response strategies. The findings have both theoretical and practical implications. On a theoretical level, the article enlarges the body of literature on crisis communication by taking into account all the visual, auditive, and tactile aspects. On a practical level, Frandsen and Johansen also manage to draw on a real case study of the Wash & Go rumor crisis to illustrate vividly their theoretical points. The authors break down Procter & Gamble’s whole crisis communication plans into specific activities. This helps other organizations seek most appropriate ways to better inform and protect themselves in the face of rumor crisis. In terms of text structure, the article is organized in a logical order. In addition, the authors mention the outline in the article introduction, which makes the article easy to
A review of the literature suggest that managers should be effectively prepared to deal with crises as they arise and even to the point where they develop a suitable communications strategy to deal with
Britton, N. (1999). Whither the Emergency Manager? International Journal of Mass emergencies and Disasters. 17(2): 223-35.
Incident response the assessment of the ability to organize and respond to any disasters, terrorist attack or security breach. Determine how a disaster is handle if it was man made. Identify if there is an updated date disaster plan available and are the step followed to handle the disaster. If the disaster is not adequately handle or if an updated disaster plan is not available, correct all areas and repeat an incident response during the next quarter. Incident response prepares for all emergences be it a disaster, cyber-attack or terrorist attack.
Coombs (2007); Ulmer, Sellnow, & Seeger (2011) Šontaitė-Petkevičienė (2014) share a common agreement that crisis is a sudden, unexpected and uncertain event, and a threat and harm to stakeholders or public saftety, financial losses, and reputation damage. The cause of a crisis is oftentimes because of unethical actions are often the cause of a crisis and the organization’s ethical values was revealed when there is a crisis occurred (Ulmer, Sellnow, & Seeger, 2011). Crisis communication aims to address a crisis situation by collecting, processing and disseminating information (Coombs & Holladay, 2010). Conversely, (Benoit, 1995; Coombs, 1999) argue that crisis communication is basically a part of public relations (PR) and it is a requirement for organizations to repair damaged images after a crisis or disaster (as cited in Seeger,
Ulmer, RR, Sellnow, TL & Seeger, MW 2007, Effective crisis communication, Thousand Oakes: Sage Publications.
Emergency response personnel respond to various incidents by communicating in real time to establish command and control at emergency scenes. However, national assessments and after-action reports show communication deficiencies regarding routine incidents management as well as support responses to acts of terrorism and natural disasters. Therefore, emergency management communication is crucial in ensuring acceleration and attainment of interoperable emergency communications in the event of natural or man-made disasters.
The information that the author provides is based on experimental studies rather than case studies. Coombs concludes that applying attribution theory in diverse streams of research can contribute to the post crisis-communication knowledge that provides a mechanism for evidence-based crisis communication. The article is relevant to the study of crisis management and communication, and those interested in conducting post-crisis communication research may find this text significant. As the field of crisis communication advances, managers need recommendations based on scientifically tested evidence rather than mere assumptions.
In 2005, Barbara Reynolds and Matthew W. Seeger examined the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Model (CERC) as a way to explain recent crises including West Nile virus (1999-present day), Anthrax (2001), Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) (2002-2003), and Avian Flu (2004). The model explains how best to address the situation as either risk communication or crisis communication and how best to prepare the public for the situation (Reynolds & Seeger 2005). This detailed examination of how to respond to the crisis based upon the needs of the public and the severity of the situation lays the groundwork for future studies in crisis communication. CERC is commonly used by the Center for Disease Control for their basis on how to handle various health related
Disaster Recovery Planning is the critical factor that can prevent headaches or nightmares experienced by an organization in times of disaster. Having a disaster recovery plan marks the difference between organizations that can successfully manage crises with minimal cost, effort and with maximum speed, and those organizations that cannot. By having back-up plans, not only for equipment and network recovery, but also detailed disaster recovery plans that precisely outline what steps each person involved in recovery efforts should undertake, an organization can improve their recovery time and minimize the disrupted time for their normal business functions. Thus it is essential that disaster recovery plans are carefully laid out and carefully updated regularly. Part of the plan should include a system where regular training occurs for network engineers and managers. In the disaster recovery process extra attention should also be paid to training any new employees who will have a critical role in this function. Also, the plan should require having the appropriate people actually practice what they would do to help recover business function should a disaster occur. Some organizations find it helpful to do this on a quarterly or semi-annual basis so that the plan stays current with the organization’s needs.
It is essential for these steps to include identifying risk, and risk reduction assessments, so that when a crisis does occur, decision making processes are much more efficient, and can also be an aid in identifying and organizing appropriate resources (Seeger, 2007). For these processes to be most effective, agencies should definitively identify the hazards they may have to overcome, as just like any other situation agencies will deal with, preparation is an asset. This type of preparation could lead to a quick fix to a crisis and or prevent the crisis all together (Seeger, 2007). Individuals within organizations need to be educated on the relationship between a crisis plan, and a plan regarding emergency response or management (Seeger, 2007). Having a foundation in the pre-planning systems, is essential to the actual response to a crisis. This way, individuals can take into account the systems when it is time for action. This can be a process includes outlining employee responsibilities, and procedures to coordinate with other organizations (Seeger, 2007). Furthermore, the crisis communication planning structure should be reviewed and revised regularly as conditions change or management sees fit (Seeger, 2007). Another step in the best practices of crisis communication is the development of partnerships with the
The communication process is not something that begins when a crisis rears its ugly head rather it is a process that takes place in preparing for a crisis before it happens. While the term crisis represents a blanket term used to describe many situations, each situation is unique, thus presenting different obstacles to overcome. However, with a well-established advanced plan in place an organization places itself in a position to overcome and work around obstacles. The development of a comprehensive crisis management plan is one achieved through effective communication where each member of the crisis management team has an advanced shared understanding of his or her role and responsibility during a time of crisis (du Pr'e, 2005).
Emergency management is often described in terms of “phases,” using terms such as mitigate, prepare, respond and recover. The main purpose of this assignment is to examine the origins, underlying concepts, variations, limitations, and implications of the “phases of emergency management.” In this paper we will look at definitions and descriptions of each phase or component of emergency management, the importance of understanding interrelationships and responsibilities for each phase, some newer language and associated concepts (e.g., disaster resistance, sustainability, resilience, business continuity, risk management), and the diversity of research perspectives.