Intervention & Accommodation

Crisis Response Planning

Extreme behaviour may be natural in certain critical situations, but careful planning and preventive measures can help facilitate the best possible response. The suggestions below can help people respond to a critical situation calmly and efficiently.

Tips and Strategies

• Crisis response contact list
   
• Educate employees about what to do in a crisis
   
• Prepare a media strategy for responding to a crisis
   
• Offer post-counselling

Crisis response contact list

• Include all phone numbers, e-mail addresses, work schedules (opening hours, days off, specific contact person, if any).
   
• Prepare a comprehensive list of contacts and resources for specific critical situations such as violence, suicide, hazardous materials, etc.
   
• For a mental health-related crisis, include the contact information for the mental health crisis response team in your area. This team is often located in a hospital psychiatric department.
   
  • The police should be called when any individual presents a danger to him/herself or others.
     
  • The mental health crisis response team may be able to provide a less threatening form of intervention if no danger exists.
• Distribute a detailed list of company personnel to be contacted in case of emergency to appropriate emergency services such as fire and police.
   
  • Check with your local municipality to get blueprints that show fire exits, electrical sources, window locations, all entry and exit points, parking lots etc. Your fire department may also be able to provide more information about what should be included.
     
  • Ensure all employee files include emergency contact information.
• Make sure a copy of this information is securely stored in an offsite location and is accessible to key personnel.

Refer to the Mental Health Resource List

Educate employees about what to do in a crisis

• Prepare and distribute a response plan for each critical situation to every employee.
   
• Include a list of crisis response phone numbers such as distress hotlines, poison control, etc.
   
• Distress hotline numbers should be posted in employee washrooms to allow for easy access by employees in crisis.
   
• Conduct detailed facility tours that show all potential entry and exit points, the location of fire extinguishers and basic medical supplies. Ensure that employees know how to operate them.
   
• Do annual dry runs for each common crisis response and, if possible, station employees in different parts of the facility for each dry run.
   
• Emphasize that employees are not required to intervene where they are putting themselves at risk.
   
• Provide training about managing stress in extreme situations.

Prepare a media strategy for responding to a crisis

• Designate specific personnel to speak for the company in case of a crisis.
   
• Specify that no other personnel is authorized to speak to the media on the organization's behalf.
   
• Ensure that designated spokespeople are aware of appropriate language around issues such as mental health, disability, etc.
   
• Where possible notify employees of pending media coverage.
   
• Brainstorm and document possible media responses to specific crisis.
   
• Prepare and distribute to the media a contact list of company spokespersons.
   
• Train specific personnel and their backups on ideal responses to media.
   
• Designate a person to monitor media reports of the crisis.
   
• Hold post mortems on the company's actual and perceived responses to the situation.

Offer post-counselling

• Where possible, allow time off for workers who require it following a crisis or trauma.
   
• Allow workers to return to work gradually.
   
• Develop protocols to provide workers with voluntary counseling to address the emotional impact of their experience.
   
• Hold voluntary sessions to help workers put their experience in perspective.
   
• Help validate and acknowledge what has been experienced.
   
• Be sure to acknowledge that everyone can have different responses to the same situation.
   
• Offer group self-care activities (e.g. yoga, meditation, walks, memorials).

Crisis Response Planning [PDF]

Resources

The following are links to resources that may be of interest to you. If you click on a link you may be entering a third party website not maintained or controlled in any way by Great-West Life.