Over the past few months we have been working with a client who has multiple facilities over a large geographical area. They have a critical incident plan, which in theory, should work well in the event of a critical incident. Like all such plans it is little more than a fancy document until it is tested.
We conducted workshops and scenario based exercises at each facility to test the plan. What quickly transpired was that the plan was too rigid and hierarchical. We also learned that there were issues unique to each facility that the plan did not cater for. It was a classic case of one size does not fit all.
After each scenario based exercise we conducted reviews to determine what the critical incident response needs of each facility were. The common denominator from each such review was the need for a localised response to ensure that no time critical responses were delayed.
We are now developing local Critical Incident Response Plans for each facility and a Corporate Crisis Management Plan for the parent organisation. The Critical Incident Response Teams (CIRT) will be quickly assembled in each facility and lead by the most senior person available at the time, with an elevating command as more senior people become available. The CIRT will deal with all the short term responses while the CMT will deal with all the medium and long term decisions, thus holding a strategic role.
When the new plans are finalised and rolled out across the organisation, they too will be tested to ensure that the theory can be put into practice. The management are acutely aware of their corporate responsibility to all their staff, visitors and contractors and have placed critical incident planning very high in their priorities.