Attorneys

• W. Scott Hardy

On September 11, 2001, countless lives ended, billions of dollars of property was destroyed, and America’s sense of security changed forever.  At that same moment, a multitude of businesses were extinguished or disrupted by terrorist attacks.  While the likelihood that any given business will be victimized by international terrorism is slim, no business is immune from tragedy.  Catastrophe can strike at any time and disrupt any business.

Businesses everywhere risk peril by anything from fires to power outages and from jilted ex-lovers to disgruntled co-workers.  Some perilous occurrences can be anticipated and averted while others can only be mitigated.  Prudent business leaders must ask themselves:  Is my organization prepared to survive a catastrophic event?  If not, what can be done now?  A well-constructed crisis management plan could prove invaluable – even essential — in times of disaster.  In all cases, prudence dictates preparedness.

Organizational Commitment Is Essential
To be effective, crisis preparedness and disaster planning requires a commitment from every individual within an organization.  A distraught company must rely on those individuals who know its operations best and who have a personal stake in its continued viability – its employees.  

The CEO of a financial data provider with nearly 200 of its 2000 New York City employees having offices in the World Trade Center recounted how employees took initiative to ensure that they continued to operate in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.  Some drove directly from the World Trade Center to Philadelphia to establish a makeshift operations center, while others dug through the rubble at ground zero in search of hard drives and backup tapes.  These employees were committed to their company and its clientele.  Such loyalty surely wasn’t born on September 11th but, rather, was imbedded in the company culture day in and day out over a period of years.  

Set Priorities, Build a Team and Devise a Strategic Plan
The first step in devising and implementing a crisis management plan is to identify the organization’s priorities.  For most businesses, preserving lives and preventing or minimizing injuries comes first.  Then, depending on the type of operation, protecting assets and resuming normal operations take precedence.  For some, preserving assets, records and other data is of utmost importance; for others, remaining “operational” is paramount.  

Once priorities are set, the crisis management plan must identify a team of individuals prepared to ensure that the plan’s goals are met.  Personnel most equipped to ensure the company’s identified priorities should staff the team, which must be led by one or more well-regarded, battle-tested managers capable of taking control and making quick judgments.  Organizations with multiple locations should appoint deputies in each location to report directly to one central team leader.  

Once the team is identified and organizational priorities are set, members of the team must be assigned specific tasks to ensure those priorities are met.  For instance, if a top priority of a brokerage house is to secure electronically stored data, then a computer savvy team member must be prepared to quickly retrieve the disks or other storage devices and remove them from their location immediately.  Such a maneuver need not be precipitated by a terrorist attack – in fact, such corporate assets are lost every day by more common perils such as floods and fires.  

Each workplace is as unique as the employees who work in it.  Each workplace also has unique areas of vulnerability.  As the plan is developed, these vulnerabilities must be assessed and, where possible, corrective measures implemented immediately.  Added security measures and employee background checks are two examples.  Business should exercise caution and seek counsel, however, because of the legal restrictions tethered to such prudent measures.

As with other important company policies, all employees must be made aware of the plan, which should be in writing.

Fire Drills Aren't Just For Kids
We all remember having fire drills in elementary school.  For some kids, it was an opportunity to delay the inevitable spelling quiz, for others, a quick chance to see friends from other classrooms.  For your employees, however, practicing your well-constructed crisis management plan is critical if their lives – and jobs – are to be preserved.  Not only will they know what to do and how to do it in times of crisis, but the drills will expose weaknesses in your plan that can be corrected before it is too late.

Conclusion
Businesses should develop and implement a crisis management plan to protect and preserve lives and assets.  Doing so not only provides much needed guidance in times of disaster, but also averts many disasters from happening at all.  Being prepared is not just a trite Boy Scout motto from a bygone era but is also good advice for your business today. 

For more information, please contact shardy@cohenlaw.com.