Crisis management manual

Some measures to consider:. In a crisis, U. Remember, consular associates are often in the first group to leave post. Work with other section managers to train back-ups from other parts of the section in ACS functions. If needed use the EAC to discuss the training of LE staff employees from other Embassy sections to back up consular staff in a crisis.

Ensure that all consular officers in the section know how to issue a passport, report of death, etc. Make certain your off-site equipment hand seals, laptop software, printers, etc. Data on where and how many U. Identify what activities the ACS Unit can defer, and in what order, if there is a crisis.

You need to think about both sides of the coin--how to provide emergency services to meet the crisis, and at the same time how to reduce or shut down routine visa services in an organized fashion. Unless they have already been closed for security reasons, Non Immigrant Visa NIV Operations should be the first to close when you need to provide extra staff for the crisis.

While the host government and even other embassy officers may pressure you to keep visa services open, the protection and welfare of U. Have they been cross-trained in ACS functions, for example? Immigrant visa IV processing, given its complex nature, scheduling issues, importance to petitioners and beneficiaries, and the mechanics of the preference system, is significantly more difficult to shut down than NIV processing.

Normally, you would consider this only after it is apparent that closing down NIV operations alone is insufficient for the crisis at hand. If faced with the need to temporarily halt or reduce IV issuance, either because of need or security considerations, consider the following:.

Prioritize work accordingly;. As an entry level officer or consular associate newly arrived at post, there are steps you can and should take to make yourself a more valued member of the team in the event of a disaster or crisis:. When you move from temporary quarters to a new apartment, or finally get your phone installed, or get a cellular phone, let your Unit and Section chiefs know. Don't count on the usual Management Section locator updates; and.

If you speak a third language, you have had professional grief counseling training, you are have information systems expertise, you were a nurse or a fireman in a past career, etc. As an LE staff employee, your knowledge of the local situation language, geography, culture, contacts will prove invaluable in any crisis.

You can best serve your section in an emergency by focusing on the following:. Use your range of contacts within the host government and the community at large to full advantage:. With your colleagues, discuss and identify successes or failures with earlier disasters or exercises, and bring them to the attention of the section chief. Brainstorm possible crises- as a local resident, YOU may have the best handle on the most likely scenarios. If you have special skills, abilities, languages, and experience, make them known to consular management.

Skills could include:. The following topics and recommendations may not all apply to your post. Since the host government has primary responsibility for responding to an emergency, your requirements for action may be inversely proportional to the capabilities of the host government to act.

In any event, review the following guidelines and recommendations, adopting and adapting those that best fit your particular situation. The consular section will have a significant amount of useful material as a result of its normal activities. This information should be collected and appropriately formatted for use in a crisis. Some examples include:. Outside of the consular section, there are several mission elements that are ready sources of useable information and contacts.

You will need assistance and support from the Management section more than from anywhere else in the mission. Keep them updated on your planning and potential needs by discussing things such as:. The main contact at post for the country's national and local police forces. Can arrange for physical security as needed for consular officers proceeding to scene of the crisis.

Good source of information on how the public is responding to the crisis;. Military Representative can be a source of key contacts, particularly in countries where the host military is generally a prime player in disaster scenarios.

These sections of the embassy often have Transportation and Communications portfolios, and may be a good source of official and private contacts within these industries. Your law enforcement colleagues at post may be able to provide vital assistance in a crisis, including:.

If there is a U. AID Mission at post your AID colleagues may have knowledge of host country capabilities in the event of disaster and whether AID assistance has been requested and provided in the past or would be sought in the even of a disaster. See 12 FAH-1 Annex. PC Volunteers are often a valuable source of information regarding outlying or remote areas of the country.

The mission PC Office may have excellent contacts with small hotels, medical clinics, small air charter services, etc. The host government has the primary responsibility to respond to a disaster within its borders. You will generally be working closely with host officials in your efforts to assist U. It is helpful pre-, during, and post-crises. A great deal of expert medical wisdom, academic research and practical, simulation-tested protocols are condensed into this compact, accessible manual.

Anesthesiologists have developed many tools to rescue patients from life-threatening situations, from the laryngoscope to the pulse oximeter to crisis management in the simulator. The latest of these is the Emergency Manual, a cognitive aid for any medical provider confronted with a crashing patient. This tool will save lives. The pages, like the Australian Dollar, feel like they are made of plastic and are resistant to spills in the trauma environment.

The pages are clearly indexed, tabulated and colour coded, with large writing and a simple, intuitive presentation. The Crisis Management section presents 2 pages on each topic. The left page provides a concise prioritized list on how to manage the crisis. The right page elaborates and defines key issues pertinent to the crisis such as differential diagnoses, target physiological parameters, drug dose preparations or a brief description on how to perform procedures.

Topics covered include:. The Crisis prevention section deals mostly with the approach to an isolated abnormal physiological parameter and adds a nice touch to the manual.

The layout is similar to the preceding section with the left page this time dedicated to a list of causes for the abnormality, and the right side describing a diagnostic pathway to isolate and fix the problem. They say you should not judge a book by its cover, but in this case it meets those high expectations and does exactly what it says on the tin. The structure and purpose of the book also lends itself to other areas of critical care and the Anaesthetic Crisis Manual is just screaming out for a sequel.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Having a more specific sense of these potential occurrences will guide your planning. You do not need to include every conceivable risk, but cover a broad range, such as a natural disaster, a cyberattack, a loss of utilities, a technology failure, the death of a CEO, a shooter in the workplace, a financial crisis, an operational accident, and a product failure. Activation Protocol: Be sure to include triggers for the crisis management plan, as the natural first response to an emergency is often paralysis.

Using levels of urgency as your criterion, define the circumstances that activate a particular crisis response. In addition, explain how to escalate that response, in the event that a crisis turns out to be more serious than it first appeared.

Based on the type or location of the incident, the protocol should also direct your staff on how to respond. And, the protocol should establish some type of communication that signals the end of a crisis.

Making a well-defined org chart supports coordination and consistency, which decentralized organizations sometimes struggle to achieve. Depending on the seriousness of the event, your plan may call for additional layers of command. For example, an emergency at one site may activate the response team and leader at that particular site, but a company-wide crisis may require a headquarters crisis team that has regional teams operating underneath it.

Command Center Plan: Determine what will serve as the base of operations for the team during a crisis. In addition, indicate what supplies and utilities the team will require.

In the event that the first command center is unavailable, you will also need to designate a backup command center. Please see below for complete details on setting up a command center.

Response Action Plans: Perform detailed planning around how you will respond to various scenarios. This planning includes assigning responsibility for each task. Think of these response actions as modular elements that you should employ as the situation requires. Conceptualizing crises in this way makes your crisis management plan adaptable. Internal Communication Plan: Create systems and backup methods for members of the crisis management team to communicate with each other.

Collect contact information for all team members as well as anyone they might need to call upon, including outside consultants and subject matter experts. You must also establish ways to disseminate urgent information to all employees, such as using a notification provider to send texts and automated calls or implementing a method for your employees to check in and report their safety and whereabouts.

External Communication Plan: Define plans for communicating with the public and key external stakeholders. Appoint a spokesperson. Write detailed instructions, including whom you will notify e.

Also, draft holding statements, the details of which you can fill in later, once you have the relevant information. Prioritize your strategic communication objectives and outline talking points. Make sure your plans align with other communication efforts. Be ready to create a special website or telephone line to answer consumer or community questions. Resources: Think about everything the crisis management team might need, from hardhats to credit cards and a standby public relations advisor, and line these things up.

Information resources will be especially important in a time of crisis. These resources include many kinds of stakeholder agreements, including union contracts, maps of facilities, timelines, flowcharts of key processes and procedures, supplier contracts, benefits information, and more. Training: Being able to execute your crisis management plan quickly is paramount, and holding drills and exercises with the crisis management team is crucial to that goal.

Rehearsals or even tabletop drills can reveal flaws in the plan, and practice will help the crisis team become comfortable with their individual roles and work together. Make sure to stay current by doing regular training. In addition, provide training to other staff members based on their particular jobs, such as showing a warehouse manager how to use a fire extinguisher, explaining to a production associate how to stop an assembly line, or teaching an executive assistant how to respond to a media phone call.

Review: Create a structured review process in order to schedule regular follow-up check-ins regarding your plan. As your business or the risk environment changes, you will need to update your crisis management plan. After an actual crisis, the team should analyze what went well and what did not. Identify important lessons, and implement any necessary changes.

Corporate Crisis Management Plan Template. Five Steps to Make a Crisis Management Plan The five steps for drafting a crisis management plan are ground rules and risk assessment; business impact analysis; response and contingency planning; training and coordination; and review.

Crisis Management Plan Step 2: Business Impact Analysis The next step is performing a business impact analysis BIA , in which you refine the predictions of likely impacts on your business from the risk assessment.

Crisis Management Plan Step 3: Response and Contingency Planning Response and contingency planning prepares your business to deal with the practical aspects of an actual crisis.

Crisis Management Plan Step 4: Training and Coordination Once you have fully developed your crisis management plan, shift your focus to ensuring that team members and other key staff know how to perform their roles. Crisis Management Plan Step 5: Review and Update In order to keep your crisis management plan current, schedule a regular review of its contents. Crisis Management Plan Checklist When you finish your crisis management plan, make sure it is clear and complete.

Do you have measures to identify crisis warning signs? Do you have the contact information for all members of the crisis management team, as well as those for key advisors, stakeholders, and support services?