Exercise, Exercise, Exercise (a Crisis Scenario)!
By Heather Garlich, Vice President, Public Relations and Media Relations, Food Marketing Institute
Prepared, not scared: That’s the mantra for this year’s National Preparedness Month. The theme is also playing out as a public service announcement developed by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Ad Council, which encourages conversations among parents and their kids to develop a plan and take disaster actions together.
Food retailers have an opportunity to engage with the public sector more regularly to anticipate messaging priorities and strategies in preparing for, reacting to and recovering from a natural disaster crisis. Regarding the devastating tornadoes and lessons learned from hurricanes Irma, Maria and Harvey, food retailers that experience these disasters understand the value of keeping the lines of communication open between the public and private sector. There are many ways to exercise your preparedness skills:
1. Prepare:
When crises occur—whether natural disasters, cyber security breaches, food safety issues, or even protests—your response will be critical to maintaining your relationships with shoppers, employees and business partners. Leverage the 2019 Crisis Communications Manual with your team to prepare, respond and recover from a crisis. This month is also an opportunity to dust off your contact lists and know who to call when seconds count. For a natural disaster, introduce yourself to your private sector liaison via this map.
2. Practice:
In June, several of our members participated in the FEMA exercise, Shaken Fury 2019, which leveraged a response and recovery scenario involving a 7.7 magnitude earthquake affecting several states. Crisis management exercises are key to coordination and collaboration and help to identify gaps in resources. During Shaken Fury, FMI participated in a FEMA-Private Sector Communicator call to share and hear lessons learned among a cross-sector network of communicators at various organizations and associations. Your company may encourage similar drills.
3. Participate:
Regularly, FEMA shares public messages during a national emergency, including social media alerts, high resolution assets for digital communications channels, a dashboard for communications professionals and ways to address rumors during emergencies. FEMA’s goal is to ultimately grow the private sector communications efforts and coordinate messaging. FMI can help get you in touch.
4. Partner:
FMI recently joined forces with SABER, the Single Automated Business Exchange for Reporting, to offer food retailers a streamlined system for identifying a store’s business status following a natural disaster or other crisis event. Join us September 19 for a webinar to learn more.
As you prepare for another intense weather emergency season with your crisis management colleagues, it’s important to coordinate and collaborate when the sun is out. Exercise remains critical to a healthy heart – and exercising your crisis plans can help reduce stress before an actual emergency occurs.
For links to these free member resources, visit FMI’s Crisis Management page. You’ll also find the following materials for your business continuity teams:
- Natural Disaster Guideline: This document provides guidance for assisting key personnel to prepare, respond, stabilize, and recover from a natural disaster event.
- Food Defense Guideline: The following guideline is meant for assisting key personnel to prepare, respond, stabilize, and recover from a tampering or intentional contamination event. It serves as a resource and a supplement to the many resources provided by federal government agencies and partnerships with your local law enforcement agencies.
- Active Shooter Guideline: The following information in this document is meant for assisting key personnel to prepare, respond, stabilize, and recover from an active shooter event.
