Employees Abroad

The corporation has significant duty-of-care responsibilities to ensure all their international travelers are prepared and have adequate support if they have an incident while abroad. Issues multiply when an international health incident occurs -- from coordinating an evacuation of a critically-injured engineer from a work site in Angola to helping an employee decide if he or she wants to remain on assignment after a robbery in Prague.

While directed at HR professionals, this article from HREOnline.com could just as easily apply to crisis management and prevention in any field. With the very real possibility of tumultuous international relations and worldwide issues, such as swine flu, interfering with the increasingly global nature of business, there are many considerations to be taken when sending employees abroad.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Super Speed

The advent of blazing-fast social media communication has forced crisis management to speed up tremendously just to keep pace. In a recent blog post, Nick Vehr, founder of Vehr Communications, makes this when commenting on an article about US Airway's crisis response to Flight 1549 landing in the Hudson River that suggested the 11 minutes it took them too respond was too slow.

Despite the near incomprehensibility if someone suggesting that 11 minutes for an initial response was “behind the curve,” it is clear that social media requires that we amp-up all of our planning.

Any organization faces the very real possibility of a crisis, and commonly they are judged on the speed and quality of their response. With time being of the essence, the effectiveness of tools such as dark sites and scheduled tweet programs can not be underestimated. That being said, I disagree with any contention that 11 minutes is 'behind the curve.' Unlike those who are merely reporting what is then hearsay, US Airways at least needed to do some quick fact-checking before making a comment.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Horizon Management Group Hoisted on Own Petard

Twitter has been a fantastic crisis management tool for businesses, allowing them to provide one-on-one communication and service to more customers than ever before. For some reason, when Chicago-based Horizon Group Management LLC aka Horizon Realty Group came across the following complaint in a tweet (casually made in response to a friend's comments) by Amanda Bonnen, they chose to forgo this route, and instead decided to sue her for $50,000!

“Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.”

Considering the fact that Bonnen had less than 30 followers, posting this message could hardly be deemed damaging to Horizon. I can't say the same, however, for their own lawsuit, which has unleashed a storm of negative online coverage nationwide. If you'd like to read more about this jaw-droppingly bad PR case, check out the Checkmate Public Affairs Blog, written by my friend and associate Jeff Chatterton.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Summer Storms

Summer is thunderstorm season, and thunderstorms bring lightning, heavy rainfall, hail, and tornadoes. Resulting fatalities, property damage, and losses from business interruption are significant. Natural hazards can't be prevented, but emergency management can protect life, mitigation can reduce property damage, and business continuity planning can speed recovery and reduce operational impacts.

Although those of us lucky enough to live in Southern California don't often think of summer as bringing harsh weather, the reality is that for much of the country it can spell trouble. Luckily, the people at Preparedness, LLC have just published their latest eNewsletter, and it covers all of these nasty conditions. As you can see, the main recommendation of these professionals is straight out of Crisis Management 101; plan ahead, take preventative steps and you greatly reduce the impact of any crisis.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Twitter 101 for Business & Crisis Management

Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter.

This quote, taken from the official guide "Twitter 101 for Business", summarizes exactly why it is so important to have a presence on Twitter. The social media darling's capabilities, which allow organizations to keep a finger on the pulse of, and rapidly respond to statements from, the general public, are an invaluable resource for crisis management. If you haven't yet joined the Twitterverse, hop on the bandwagon and take advantage, before it passes you by!

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Easy H1N1 Fever Screening

Answering the needs of officials and organizations around the world for early detection of H1N1 cases, Extech Instruments has recently released their IR200 Non-contact Infrared Forehead Thermometer. Designed for fast, simple and accurate fever screenings, those being screened do not have to remove glasses or safety masks and need only stand still for an instant for the instrument to get a reading. An easy, effective and (at under $80) affordable crisis management tool, I've already got one client using this with great success and have been recommending it to others!

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Red Cross Challenge

Think you're a crisis management ace? Up to a challenge? The UK Red Cross is preparing to host another of their Disaster Response Challenges, which test the most practiced and elite crisis experts in a simulated disaster experience.

Built around a hypothetical disaster that unfolds in real time over a two-day period, this is a challenge that will test the calmest, most practical of you. You will be taken out of your comfort zone and into an environment where the decisions you and your teammates make would quite literally be a matter of life and death in real life…

The role of the Red Cross Emergency Response Unit (ERU) is to respond as quickly as possible to a humanitarian disaster whenever and wherever in the world it may occur, offering practical help and hope to people in crisis.

The Disaster Response Challenge provides a unique opportunity for you to experience first hand the issues and decisions faced by the Red Cross ERU in a disaster situation – something that only a handful of people get to experience in a lifetime.

The challenge deals with real problems faced in a disaster crisis response and covers issues including logistics, communications, security and more. An invaluable experience for people from all walks of life, you can find more information and entry info at the official Red Cross site, here.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Crisis Manager Newsletter

A new edition of Crisis Manager's up on the Bernstein Crisis Management website! This issue features two guest articles on crisis response - one's an example of a successful traditional customer-oriented response by a food manufacturer during the recent peanut salmonella fiasco, while the other demonstrates how to employ the latest Web 2.0 tactics to effectively combat a negative blogger.

Always full of useful tips and information, Crisis Manager is published bi-monthly and can be delivered free, straight to your inbox! Just click here, hit SEND and you're on the list!

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Schwarzenegger Replaces Nursing Board

In a drastic move, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced most of the members of the California Board of Registered Nursing this past Monday. This attempt at crisis management stemmed from an LA Times/ProPublica investigation that revealed it takes an average of nearly three and a half years to close official complaints filed against nurses. This quote from a recent ProPublica.com article sums up the report:

During that time, nurses accused of wrongdoing are free to practice – often with spotless records – and move from hospital to hospital. Potential employers are unaware of the risks, and patients have been harmed as a result.

Reporters found nurses who continued to work unrestricted for years despite documented histories of incompetence, violence, criminal convictions and drug theft or abuse. In dozens of cases, nurses maintained clean records in California even though they had been suspended or fired by employers, disciplined by another California licensing board or restricted from practice by other states.

The board members' replacements will have to scramble to put together some sort of reputation management strategy to restore public faith, or their already-struggling industry could feel a serious financial impact.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

LinkedIn Poll

Though it's not exactly crisis management-related, I've created a new poll on LinkedIn that I'd like to invite all of my readers to respond to. If you're not already a member, LinkedIn is a fantastic networking site, commonly viewed as the "professional" sibling of Myspace and Facebook, where users gather to exchange information and share both ideas and opportunities.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Soy Bean Sprouts Recalled

Chang Farm, River Road, Whatley, MA is issuing a voluntary recall of Soy Bean Sprouts produced by Chang Farms, with the specific sell-by date of July 17, 2009 because of the possible presence of Listeria monocytogenes (L. Monocytogenes) contamination. Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

Does “healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea” make you feel a whole lot better?

There are four ways to be perceived as dishonest – by an act of commission (e.g., black is white), act of omission (“oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that our poker game was at a strip club”), by exaggeration (e.g., we can beat anyone’s prices) and by understatement. The latter is what Chang Farms attempted above, whether intentionally or inadvertently. All they had to do to change the statement and avoid the problem was to add one word and drop one word:

“Even healthy individuals may suffer short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea."

While doing the right thing in quickly issuing a recall and press release, Chang Farms' poor choice of words makes their crisis management efforts far less effective.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

United Breaks Guitars -- Wrong Way Crisis Management

This video is a response by Sons of Maxwell singer Dave Carroll to some incredibly poor customer service by United Airlines. After he and his band members witnessed his $3500 guitar being mishandled and broken by baggage handlers, United sent him on a nine-month wild goose chase to find the person responsible for dealing with the situation, only to deny him any compensation at all.

Treating your customers badly is a surefire way to put your company in danger of needing some crisis management. With the YouTube video already garnering nearly three million hits and appearing on news programs nationwide, I'd say United is getting the message.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Tour Ship Compared to Hospital Prison Ship

Between the lingering recession in the U.S. and swine flu fears lowering both passenger traffic and closing ports across the globe, business in the cruise industry is seriously suffering.

One company is now facing even more trouble - the BBC is reporting that the Bremen-based Marco Polo, a Transocean Tours vessel, was held for three days at port when hundreds of passengers and crew fell ill with a nasty stomach flu. One passenger described the situation:

Mr Cloke told BBC Scotland: "Management I have to say was poor, it was really poor.

"I have never been through such a traumatic experience.

"It felt like you were sitting on a hospital prison ship waiting to get sick - death row if you like."

With so many crises in recent memory having to do with disease, there absolutely no reason to not include the possibility in your crisis management plans. In an already-down and extremely competitive market, this negative publicity could harm Transocean Tours badly.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Not-So Protective Service

In this post-911 world, one would expect our federal buildings to be some of the best protected in the world . In a report that has suddenly thrown the agency charged with this task, the Federal Protective Service, into crisis management mode, the Government Accountability Office has accused the service of a myriad of offenses.

Mark Goldstein of the Government Accountability Office testified about the investigators' operations.

"We brought in all the components that we needed to make a real bomb," he said, though the concentration of explosives was "below the trigger point" for safety reasons. Investigators obtained the components at local stores and over the Internet for less than $150, the report says.

"In a number of the locations -- three or four of them -- the guards were not even looking at the screens that would show materials passing through," Goldstein said.

In a devastating quote from his CNN interview, Goldstein told reporters that a major problem was security at the buildings being, "budget-driven...not risk driven." The worst crises are ones that could have been prevented, but were not, for short-term financial reasons. In this case, the Federal Protective Service is lucky that they are only dealing with public shame and not a loss of life - yet.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Tracking Public Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today the launch of the Web-based Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, a surveillance tool that scientists, health professionals, and – for the first time – members of the public can use to track environmental exposures and chronic health conditions.

This announcement on July 8 should make those of us charged with crisis management very happy! As we know, solid crisis prevention practices usually result in problems being averted before they become major issues. The CDC is reporting that this tool, which allows users to examine many different pieces of information and easily see how they interconnect, has already led to over 73 successful public health actions to prevent budding crises or save valuable resources. With its ability to follow patterns and predict hot spots ahead of time, the Public Health Tracking Network is both a prominent part of the CDC's crisis management arsenal and a valuable tool for crisis managers everywhere.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com

Have Some Sense!

Republican Governors Mark Sanford and Sarah Palin (abetted by her attorney) have made quite a spectacle of themselves over the past week, putting on a stunning display of poor crisis management. A post from Doug Fisher's blog, "Common Sense Journalism," sums it up beautifully.

Who exactly is advising these folks? Have the Republicans opened a whole new PR agency, Bumble, Fumble and Stumble LLC? First rule of "crisis" management -- and this is a form of crisis -- don't give anyone an opening to keep talking about the stuff you don't want them to keep talking about.

Between Sanford's drawn out lies and ensuing revelations, and Palin's refusal to duck gracefully out of the public eye, these stories will likely fuel the media for quite a while.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com

Damage Control

It's a well known crisis management fact - if you do not give your story, your way, someone will step up and tell it for you. This of course leaves plenty of room for rumor and speculation, neither of which is healthy for your image. Take the saga of hockey star Dany Heatley, as told in today's Ottawa Citizen. The Ottawa Senators scoring machine recently requested ("privately") that he be traded. Of course, the request didn't stay private long. Within a week, his jerseys were selling for half price in stores and a Facebook group with over 650 members called, "(Expletive) Dany Heatley," was spawned.

In order for whatever crisis response Heatley puts together to work, he is going to need a crash course in handling the media and a boatload of humility. The only way to salvage his reputation will be to go the extra mile to satisfy his customers, the fans.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com

Crisis Communication

Governor Carcieri blew it. In his press conference, he often referred to the individuals who had been killed as "bodies," rather than "victims." Rather than starting the news conference by assuring the public that his prayers and thoughts were with the victims and their families, he rambled for more than eight minutes about how he wanted to hear from dentists because having access to the dental records of victims might accelerate the identification process.

In an excerpt from his book, "Crisis Leadership Now," featured in the latest Crisis Manager, Dr. Larry Barton relays a tragic story, made worse by some incredibly bad communication. With the way an organization communicates being such an integral part of crisis management strategy, there's no excuse for poor preparation.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com

New Crisis Manager

Hot on the heels of the last issue, there's yet another new Crisis Manager up at the Bernstein Crisis Management website. We've got some excellent material in this edition. The first piece is an article that could help prevent 95% of all crises. The second is an analysis of a major crisis management bungle by the Governor of Rhode Island, excerpted from Dr. Larry Barton's book, "Crisis Leadership Now."

Those of you who are already subscribers received a free offer in the email edition of the newsletter, let me know how you liked it!

Feeling left out? Just click here and press "send," no subject or message required!

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com

Coup Crisis

Cruise giant Carnival is getting plenty of opportunities to put their crisis management strategies to the test. Having recently announced that their ships would not be visiting Mexican ports due to H1N1 risk, I'm sure the announcement of a military coup in the Honduras, another of their most popular ports, caused quite a scare.

Eager to control the story and reduce fears, Carnival granted interviews to news outlets worldwide. Here's a quote from one featured in the USAToday travel section:

"Our local contacts on the island are advising us that there are currently no issues in Roatan," de la Cruz tells USA TODAY. "We are monitoring the situation and keeping in touch with authorities there, however, at this time we are anticipating that we will be able to call in Roatan later this week as scheduled."

Being that they have a monopoly on cruises to the Honduras for the next few months, there's no doubt Carnival will do whatever they can to both keep their passengers safe and aid in reputation management for the area. If even one passenger is harmed, however, they'll have a much more difficult situation to manage.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com