Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The Incident Management Team should convene at least annually to review the
plan and make recommendations for modifi cations, develop new crisis scenarios, and
work through some “mock” scenarios to practice the plan. Practice is extremely
important. From year to year, staff will change and new members may not have had
the benefi t of being part of the original development of the plan. Hence, it may be
important to work directly with new employees who have a key role on the team. New
team members must understand the plan, their role, and how they will work with
others through the crisis, understanding that a crisis may occur tomorrow. Another
way to perform mock incident management drills is to link the practice with mock
prerequisite drills, such as a mock recall. In most cases, both plans will be used simul-
taneously and it is important to understand the interactions among all role players:
team members, personnel resources, communication, products, etc.
When running a mock drill, utilize the documentation you have in place so that the
drill simulates a real-world situation: draft press releases and recall announcements,
use the team directory (check numbers to be sure they are accurate), and review cor-
rective action tracking documents.
Although it is often said that these events should not disrupt your day-to-day activ-
ity, the reality is that, in most cases, a crisis will at a minimum affect day-to-day
activities and is likely to be disruptive. Not only will it impact production and cus-
tomer service, but it will also impact personnel. In some cases, it will not only affect
their ability to get their daily tasks done but it may affect them personally. They may
suffer from stress, which should be anticipated and managed as another part of the
plan. If the interruption of business can be anticipated, the company will be even more
prepared in the face of an actual crisis.
Implementing the Plan during a Crisis
The moment there is a crisis is not the time to begin planning how to respond. The
plan should be already developed and ready for implementation. Review the plan as
soon as the crisis occurs and as often as necessary to ensure there are no deviations.
In some cases, however, it may be necessary to modify the plan due to an unanticipated
event or missed scenario during the brainstorming. It is important to apply as much
of the preplanned information to the new scenario as possible to aid in controlling the
message. For this discussion, a product recall due to a foodborne illness outbreak will
be used as the crisis example.
The fi rst step in the process is for the team leader to identify the need to convene
the team. Based on the guidelines in the plan, the leader may determine that there is
no need to convene the team (the crisis threat is low and the problem may have already
been resolved). If a need is identifi ed, the team should meet immediately. Once the
team is convened, it is extremely important to brief the team on the issue so it can
determine the crisis threat level. The information provided should be based on facts
and not include speculation or rumors. It is important to know the source of the infor-
mation. There should also be a review of media activity surrounding the issue. If the
media attention is high, it should be considered and factored into the response. If it is
low, it may indicate less of a crisis threat than anticipated. Once the threat level is
determined, the trained team should immediately move into action mode. A review of
