Crisis Communications is Everybody’s Job
Crises such as ride accidents, structural failures, ransomware attacks, and fires could affect operations, lead to loss of revenue and lawsuits, have political and legal implications, and subject a park or attraction to public scrutiny. Preparation for managing media response was the focus of IAAPA Expo’s crisis communications session, “What Role Does Your Emergency Action Plan (EAP) Play in a Crisis?”
“It’s not that we want to scare you, but we do want to scare you a little bit,” said Debbie Evans, principal at Evans Marketing Partners, as she implored attractions to prepare for the worst. She believes that crisis management should be included on all position descriptions. “It’s everybody’s job,” she stressed.
Before a crisis happens, attractions should identify, evaluate, and prioritize risks to identify risk exposure. Then they should create policies and procedures as part of their plan. Don’t wait for an actual crisis to implement the plan, suggested Joe Stefanyak, senior director of Jeff Ellis & Associates. “Try it out. Conduct training and have test runs,” he added. “Practice makes perfect.”
Part of the EAP development process includes the assignment of roles and responsibilities to everyone, including all staff and third-party partners, such as fire and emergency response departments and outside consultants. Plans should also specify locations for EAP implementation, including a media staging and briefing area.
Evans identified six crisis management steps: assemble the team; gather relevant information and check it for accuracy; assess the situation to determine factors, such as whether there is any serious injury or threat to public safety; prepare to communicate; implement the plan; and repeat the process as necessary to refine the EAP.
Even if an incident doesn’t rise to a serious level or generate media interest, Evans nonetheless suggests moving forward and preparing the communication process. It’s great practice, she says, and a prepared statement would help get the proper message out to team members. “The grapevine is really good at disseminating misinformation,” Evans noted.
Managing the media response is critical, but Stefanyak and Evans said that it’s important to consider all key audiences, including your board of directors, landlord, public utilities, guests, politicians, and more.
“The most often forgotten audience is our team,” Evans said. “They need to know what happened so that they trust us.” She added that if an attraction has a lot of minors on its team, it should keep parents in the loop, as well, to reassure them that their children are being properly cared for.
