Focusing on the “Now”

By Will Gunther

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, it seems everyone has a better answer or a direction to point the finger of blame.  What all the arm chair quarterbacks seem to forget, is that they have the luxury of hindsight that the leaders during a crisis do not.  This statement is not to suggest that leaders in all bad situations automatically get a pass on any wrong doing.  However, this incident, like many before it, is an opportunity for everyone to examine a situation objectively and determine how they can improve the contingency planning and disaster response plans in their organization.

Most contingency planning and disaster response tends to focus on what to do in case of certain incidents and how to address those incidents.  What many plans fail to focus on is the preparation for what happens during the crisis.  Especially when the crisis is something no one could have imagined.  The “Now” as I like to refer to it, is that point at which the crisis is still occurring and the public safety officials have yet to arrive.  This is the critical phase of any disaster plan during which, the time for preventive measures has passed and the time for action is at hand.  It is that critical time until the authorities arrive that often times will forever define the organization.       

Whether it is the Virginia Tech shooting, September 11th, Columbine, Hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami in Indonesia, or the incident we have yet to imagine, the reality is, no contingency plan will progress as planned.  The military refers to the confusion during crisis as the fog and friction of war.  This statement holds true in any crisis situation.  What this means in basic terms, is that there will always be confusion, miscommunication, a lack of information, and of course, casualties.

Obviously, a good contingency plan can limit the fog and friction.  A good security plan can also prevent catastrophic criminally motivated attacks.  However, most corporations, colleges and even government entities have to weigh the cost of prevention against the probability of the incident.  Planning for the “Now” is the best way to maximize effectiveness, save lives and stay within budget.  This article contains some basic tenets that can limit casualties and preserve an organization’s reputation in the aftermath of any crisis.  

1. Use the PAT method during every aspect of planning.   PAT is an acronym for Primary, Alternate and Tertiary.  This thought process will prevail when other systems fail.  For example, when law enforcement is communicating, the primary method would be radios, the alternate might be cell phones and the tertiary plan might be to communicate with couriers moving across the crisis site.  For evacuating casualties, this might mean planning three different transport methods. The primary might be air, the secondary might be ambulance and the tertiary plan may be to use vehicles owned by the organization, such as SUVs, station wagons, and delivery trucks.  This methodology should be applied to every aspect of disaster response.  (This is also a good acronym to apply to business development plans as well).



2. Train for reality. Although no one can predict what catastrophic event may befall your organization, the response methods should be flexible enough to overcome whatever the adversity.  However, basic levels of training are required in order to minimize damage and casualties.  Training doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming.  Most plans fail due to the lack of planning and training of the supporting efforts.  In the case of the evacuation example above, a small amount of time must be spent training staff how to remove the seats from the vehicles designated as tertiary transport vehicles.  Make sure a stretcher will fit inside the vehicle.  If it doesn’t fit, determine a marking system that designates the vehicle as a transport vehicle for personnel that don’t require a stretcher.  This will allow response personnel to move casualties quickly to the proper vehicle.  If air evacuation is the primary evacuation plan, establish designated landing areas.  Determine how they will be lighted in the event of a black out caused by weather.



3. Never assume law enforcement and safety officials have a blanket plan for catastrophes.  Work with these organizations to refine a plan specific to your organization.  If possible provide them with what building would best suit them as a command center, provide them with a simple map, so they can find it immediately.  Encourage them to conduct a survey of the building so they know exactly how many power outlets it has, how much room is available, and what existing communications can be utilized.  This will save time, and allow the incident command to focus on the crisis much faster.



4. Communicate the plan in simple terms. All key staff members should know what to do in case of a crisis.  This includes where to move to if possible, personnel to contact, and who they should refer media questions to.  There are other aspects as well, however, keep the plan simple.  Remember, most of the staff has several other job related tasks to do every day.  99 percent of their energy is focused on what they do for the organization on a routine basis.  Most don’t have the time to look at extensive plans and receive long seminars on the subject.  Furthermore, with all the daily focus required of them for their job, they can’t focus intently on things that may never happen to them.  The bottom line is that a contingency plan, as it pertains to the organizational staff, should be no more than five power point slides which include visual representation of designated areas and other pertinent safety issues and equipment.



5. Survey your employees and identify those with key skills. Many employees enjoy hobbies and interests that could be useful during a crisis.  For example, a receptionist may also work as auxiliary police.  A sales person may be a qualified emergency medical technician. A shipping employee may be an amateur radio enthusiast.  The point is organizations need to identify those that may be of great assistance in a crisis.  More importantly, they may be of great assistance during contingency planning.  These individuals can validate or negate assumptions as to the capabilities of outside agencies.  They can also make recommendations as to where might be the best place for a command center and where to consolidate casualties.           



6. Plan for mass casualties! When planning for crisis, also plan for mass casualties.  If you don’t have many casualties, the crisis is smaller.  However, when there is no plan for a large number of casualties, potential survivors may die.  The first step in this plan should be to identify a Casualty Consolidation Area.  This area would preferably be in a hardened structure close to an open field or parking lot suitable for landing medical helicopters.  If there is no place near a landing site, it’s not a problem.  It’s just better to have the landing site close, when possible, so the extremely injured can be moved immediately to the aircraft once the patient is identified as critically injured.  The most important aspect to remember about choosing a casualty consolidation area is that it must be safe from the ongoing crisis.  Whether it is an active shooter, a severe storm or flood, all casualties have to be moved to an area where medical personnel can safely work.  As with anything else, identify a primary, alternate, and tertiary casualty consolidation area.  If people are in areas they can’t move from, they may have to create subordinate casualty consolidation areas in their immediate vicinity.  The first medical person on scene, first responder or the sales person who works part time as an EMT (as in the previous example) should begin to prioritize the injured so they can be transported as soon as medical transport arrives.  An entire article could be dedicated to managing a casualty consolidation area but the primary goal is to make sure the most critically injured are transported first.  This becomes very important when there are only four or five ambulances and 25 casualties. 



7. Plan on poor communications.  In every major event, there are various reasons as to why normal communication methods fail.  Sometimes it is an overload of technological equipment.  Other times it may be that multiple agencies are not on the same frequency.  There are times when storms or explosions damage repeaters, rendering the usual frequencies unusable.  Any and all of these incidents will occur at least temporarily in a crisis.  If it happens, don’t panic; fall back to your contingency plan.  A good method of maintaining continuity between various agencies is to place liaison elements in the command center. This allows elements to talk face to face then pass information, by radio, to their personnel at the crisis point.  Another good idea for communications planning is to have a channel that talks point to point and doesn’t require a repeater.  The communicating distance will be much less than a repeater, but the channel will work when the repeater is damaged.  To avoid delving into a lengthy discussion about the particulars of radio frequencies and communications, the communications specialist in your organization should be able to accomplish this.



8. Purchase specialty equipment.   In times of disaster it is helpful for all organizations to have some specialty equipment to assist the organization during crisis.  Every company thinks about generators and fuel but there are various other items to consider as well.  It may be something as critical as stretchers designed to move casualties in austere environments or items to open driveways and delivery areas in order to maintain business continuity.  Some items to consider are; small survival kits for disasters such as floods, hurricanes and severe storms that may require employees to shelter in place for a few days. Small rafts and floating backboards may be necessary to evacuate casualties, computer equipment and critical servers, or records from flooded areas.  Maintenance personnel should have access to a chain saw and ropes to clear fallen trees and other debris in order to open delivery areas and other critical routes.  A satellite phone with the ability to connect a computer is a key piece of equipment to maintain business continuity in disaster situations.  Some floodlights will assist in maintaining business operations until power is restored.  There is a host of other possible options as well.  Keep in mind, the quantity of these items can be minimal because a flexible plan will allow for multiple uses of these items.  Don’t plan on renting these items during a crisis because they will be in high demand and likely unavailable.  Also, maintain a safe with cash in small bills.  When the power goes out cash registers don’t work but many stores will sell items for cash during power outages.    



9. Don’t let the media define your organization. Own the airwaves early!  Within the contingency plan should be a blanket statement for all personnel to provide to the media regardless of the circumstance.  As we know, the media will be talking to people immediately after they have escaped the crisis.  These individuals will be stressed and usually not in a frame of mind to think of the possible implications of a quick response.  A good example of a media statement for all personnel might be akin to “I’m not sure exactly what happened but I know the organization has focused contingency efforts that are designed to be as responsive as possible in any situation.  For any further information you would need to talk to someone from public relations or one of the response staff.”   This puts the message out immediately that the organization had a plan flexible enough to adapt.  This general theme should be the same from senior staff members who conduct press conferences.  Key personnel should hold press conferences early and focus on what is known. Do not allow others to attempt to focus on the unknown.  For example, you know the contingency plan was implemented and led to minimizing the damage.  Acknowledge that there were some things that could have been better, but there always is during crisis situations.  Even days after the incident keep key staff members in the public eye, presenting your message.



10. Practice the contingencies.  Even if all the organization has time for is a simple table top exercise, the exercise leader should create situations that force the staff to identify and utilize the alternate and tertiary plans.  Even if the staff merely talks through what the alternate plan would be in a given situation, it allows everyone to know the alternate plan and mentally visualize it.  The mental visualization can also identify any other gaps in the overall plan.  Even though proactive planning can be costly at times, proactive plans are always less expensive than reactive plans. 

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