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CRISIS MANAGEMENT PROTOCOLS FOR BUSINESS:
A CRISIS MANAGEMENT TEMPLATE ON CD-ROM
by Douglas Henderson, FSA, CBCP

How do we respond to an emergency?
What are the priorities?
What actions should we take first?
How do we return to normal operations?

The CRISIS MANAGEMENT PROTOCOLS FOR BUSINESS template identifies step-by-step
solutions to these and other important questions. The Plan is designed to provide guidance to
the Emergency Response Team and the leaders of the company to respond to an actual
crisis event. As such the Plan is written in a concise format that makes it highly useful during
an emergency event.

Ongoing and overall emergency response operations are defined in the organization's
Business Continuity Plan (BCP). The Crisis Management Protocols (CMP) for Business is
designed to work with, and not replace, your BCP. These plans have important specific
purpose and are intended for use in harness to greatly lessen the extent of injuries and limit
equipment, material, and property damage.

The structure of the Crisis Management Protocols for Business template is designed to be
compatible with organization of a typical business and should require little modification. A
wide range of emergency situations are addressed so that most businesses can simply
edit-out any threats that are not relevant.

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In the corporate world, the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is logically focused on continuing
or rapidly restoring business operations after an emergency event. Often there is little
attention paid to emergency steps that should be taken immediately before, during and
immediately after a disaster event. This is the area where the Crisis Management Protocols
for Business: a Crisis Management Template on CD – ROM can help.

In an actual disaster the most important goals initially are the preservation of life, maintaining
a safe environment and protecting business assets. Only after these steps have been
accomplished can normal and critical business activities continue or be restored. In this way
the Crisis Management Protocols for Business: a Crisis Management Template on CD –
ROM is designed to work with and not to replace the BCP.

The Crisis Management Protocols for Business: a Crisis Management Template on CD –
ROM details the action steps to be taken by the Emergency Response Team (ERT) and the
Company Incident Commander (or ERT Team Leader). The action steps are defined in a
concise format and are organized by the type of disaster. This approach makes the template
easy to use during an actual emergency situation.

The Crisis Management Protocols for Business: a Crisis Management Template on CD –
ROM also contains a template for distribution to employees. Often employees are provided
with emergency response information in a piecemeal manner. Sometimes only Facility
Evacuation procedures are addressed and other important procedures may be missed – How
does the organization communicate a Shelter-in-Place? What actions do employees take
and what actions are not to be taken during a Shelter-in-Place? What do we do if the country
is under a terrorist attack? What are the communication procedures before, during and after
an emergency? The Crisis Management Protocols for Business: a Crisis Management
Template on CD – ROM addresses these and many more questions in a concise easy to
read and understandable format.

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WHO SHOULD USE THE PLAN?

The DMI.CMP that is designed for a small or medium sized organization, and for companies
that have developed good IT plans but need to develop a good business-wide plan including
planning for their business units (operational groups and support departments).

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WHY IS THE PLAN EASY TO USE?

- The documentation is very comprehensive allowing the user to perform much of the update
by simply ‘editing-out’ text.
- Completely compatible with the Disaster Management, Inc. Business Impact Analysis
template (DMI.BIA) and the Disaster Management, Inc. Business Continuity Plan.
(DMI.BCP).
- The DMI.CMP utilizes a ‘fill in the blanks’ format that can be easily updated.
- Utilizes a Microsoft Word format that requires no special training to complete.
- Numerous ‘Author’s Notes’ have been inserted to assist the user

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A COMPLETE BUSINESS PLAN

The organization will need to develop a complete scope of plans to address multiple purposes
and the needs of a wide variety of users. We believe that the following specific plans are
needed:

- Business Continuity Plan (BCP) – This is the central or overarching plan for the business.
In addition to defining the overall actions of the organization during an emergency, the primary
objective of the BCP is to maintain or rapidly restore business operations.

- Crisis Management Protocols for Business – This Plan provides the Company Incident
Commander and the Emergency Response Team with emergency instructions to be
executed during specific disaster events. The primary purpose of the Crisis Management
Protocols for Business is the direction of corporate resources and life safety.

- Emergency Response Plan for Employees – This Plan provides all employees with
emergency instructions to be executed during specific disaster events. Individuals who may
have received only basic emergency response training use this plan during emergency
situations. As such, this plan focuses on basic first responder steps. The primary purpose of
the Plan is life safety.

- Business Unit Plans – Each Business Unit (the various support departments, operational
groups or other defined infrastructure entities of the business) with important disaster
preparation and/or response assignments needs to develop a Plan. This Plan defines the
Unit’s actions before, during and after a disaster event.

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OUTLINE

General Procedures
Section I Pre-Disaster Action Steps
Section II Disaster Event
Section III Business Recovery Steps

Natural Disasters
Section IV Earthquake
Section V Flood
Section VI Hurricane
Section VII Severe Winter Storm
Section VIII Thunderstorm
Section IX Tornado

Man-Made Disasters
Section X Civil Disturbance
Section XI Criminal Acts
Section XII Hazardous Release
Section XIII Hostile Intruder/Violent Employee
Section XIV Sudden Emergency
Section XV Terrorist Attack - WMD

Other Disasters
Section XVI Accidents
Section XVII Medical Emergency
Section XVIII Utility Disruption
Section XIX Wildfire

Appendices
A: Business Unit Responsibilities
B: Incident Command System
C: Communications
D: Emergency Operations Center
E: Damage Assessment Forms
F: Resources
G: Contact Information

Attachment
A: Emergency Response Plan for Employees

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FILES INCLUDED IN THE CRISIS MANAGEMENT PROTOCOLS TEMPLATE:

CMP-Readme
Introduction, User & Copyright Information

DMI.CMP
The Disaster Management, Inc. Crisis Management Protocols (or Emergency Response
Plan) is the template designed to become the actual CMP for the user’s business

Emergency Response Plan - Employees
A distribution to employees identifying the emergency response steps to be executed
during an actual emergency event

Family Disaster Planning
A distribution to employees listing emergency response steps to be taken at home

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EXCERPT

FLOOD

Expected Impact:
- Possible building content damage from flooding
- Utility disruptions possible
- Travel may become difficult or impossible (especially if the flooding conditions are caused
by a high wind event, such as a Tropical Storm)
- In an extreme situation general business operations may be closed for a day or two for
transportation disruptions
- In an extreme situation the business may be closed longer if building flooding occurs
- Critical business operations may have to be conducted from alternate site(s)

Action Steps: Pre-Disaster:
At the Watch Point (36-hours from expected impact)
- Conduct regular meetings of the ERT
- Meetings should be held at 5:30 AM (early morning meetings may be conducted by
telephone among selected ERT members) & 5:30 PM or more frequently as necessary
- Government officials will generally announce evacuation orders in either the late afternoon
or pre-dawn hours following weather updates
- Facilities secures the grounds
- Facilities secures Building Structure(s) / sump pumps, water barricades, etc.
- Both Facilities and Security monitor the weather continuously
- Facilities distributes supplies to secure Building Contents
- Employees secure building contents in Office & Work Areas in lower levels of buildings
vulnerable to flooding
- Facilities secures building contents in common areas in lower levels of buildings
vulnerable to flooding
- Facilities to secure special assets and, as necessary, backup equipment required to
maintain environmental controls. Special attention for:
- Assets of high value
- Perishable assets
- Non-replaceable assets
- Business Services secures water and non-perishable foods – enough for 72 hours for
the ERT,
- Storm Personnel (as applicable)
...

At the Warning Point (24-hours from expected impact)
- Outdoor activities will likely be cancelled
- Employees will need to be released before travel conditions become dangerous
- In an extreme situation for businesses located in areas subject to flooding consider:
- Canceling normal business activities
- Activating alternate sites
- Executing action steps recommended for hurricanes

Post Disaster
- Execute Business Recovery Steps (Section III)

Author’s Note: Floods generally can be classified into four classes – general, flash, river or
coastal. The most common flooding (general and river floods) arise from excessive rainfall
and/or snowmelt over a period if time and usually provide sufficient warning to execute steps
to protect assets and avoid loss of life. In particular flash floods provide little or no warning –
insufficient time to take emergency actions to protect assets and are more likely to result in
loss of life

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DOUGLAS M. HENDERSON, FSA, CBCP, President of Disaster Management, Inc., has 30
years of experience in the management and human resources fields with national consulting
firms, including nine years as a consultant in a major accounting firm.

In August of 1992, Doug was the key associate of the Emergency Response Team for a
consulting firm located in South Miami-Dade County. Inspired by the real life business
experience with Hurricane Andrew and the lack of preparation within the business and
academic community, Doug founded Disaster Management, Inc.

Doug has a B. S. Degree from the University of Arizona and is a Fellow, Society of Actuaries
(FSA). Doug is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), a member of FEPA
(Florida Emergency Preparedness Association), the editor of DisasterALERT, the author of
the book Is Your Business Ready for the Next Disaster?, the author of the Emergency
Management Plan for Colleges & Universities (a COOP planning template) and the co-author
of the Business Continuation Plan for Academic Institutions. Doug has also made
presentations at the National Hurricane Conference, the Florida Governor's Conference, and
to numerous other organizations.

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Published by Rothstein Associates Inc.
In stock for immediate shipment.
ISBN #1-931332-24-X
2004, CD-ROM. Order #DR728.
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The Binomial Bookstore

Crisis Management, Crisis Communication

Rothstein Associates Inc.