Crisis management is as important as finance management, personnel management, etc. Having a clear and effective program and plan for an event is critical not only to your survival, but critical to the profitability and possibly the survival of the company. Being able to identify risk, assess the situation and respond appropriately is important, and requires not only training, but practice.
Be Proactive
You should have a strategy of what to do in a “worst case scenario.” Workplace violence prevention programs, policies, and training programs like this, will educate you and those around you to recognize the warning signs and triggers of workplace violence. You can learn what to do when you see these behaviors to stop the escalation. The company should also include emergency responses specific to different crisis. What does your company do to stop workplace violence? What are you supposed to do in the event of a crisis?
Policies
There are several policies that the company needs to have in their workplace violence policy. First, a clear company policy stating their position on violence and how it will be handled. This code of conduct needs to come from the top of the company, to stress the importance. This will emphasize that zero tolerance is the company’s stance. Second, policies on natural disaster, such as fire or tornado, need to be included in the plan. Step by step policies address evacuations, documentations, department involvement, etc. Last, policies should be included on criminal acts from outside (unknown) sources.
Programs
Second, there should be programs to perform risk assessments on a regular basis and a statement of how the company will handle these risks available to all employees; this analysis should identify the necessary changes to the company’s response to a crisis. There should also be a program designed for the reporting, documenting, and investigation into behaviors that cause concern.
Emergency Procedures
Emergency procedures need to be included in the crisis management program of any company. The procedures and responsibilities of not only the emergency response team need to be specified, but also the procedures that the rest of the employees need to follow. For example, there needs to be a fire evacuation procedure, an active shooter procedure, etc.
Train Employees
All employees need to be trained on the warning signs of crisis, along with reporting policies and emergency procedures, in the event that there is an occurrence. New hires should be trained as they are hired. As the risks and policies change, the entire workforce needs to be retrained.
This post is from April’s topic on Crisis Management, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.
Mr Dan, with due respect, have a perspective on crisis management. While recruiting people for such jobs, the recruiters should only choose people who have the particular skills. In a fire emergency, as an example, people who can save people, know how to use fire extinguishers, and whose mindset is that of a fire fighter. Most organisations just recruit people with high levels of education, which are of no purpose in fire fighting. They are trained so much and some like to be a fire fighter. These are the people who should be recruited. Rgds. Florence