A  little over a year ago the town of Marshall, Michigan and the Kalamazoo River got a hard and fast lesson in oil spills and communication. In this blog post we’ll look at how Calgary, Alberta, Canada based Enbridge Liquids Pipeline handled the communication aspect surrounding the July 26, 2010 oil spill.

Here are a few facts about this oil spill:

• State of emergency was declared in Kalamazoo County.
• More than 800,000 gallons of oil were spilled into the Kalamazoo River.
• Largest oil spill in the history of the midwest.
• 65 kilometers of the Kalamazoo River were soaked in oil.

Before this oil spill, the Kalamazoo River was home to numerous wildlife including turtles, fish, muskrats, and Canada geese. As well this river was popular with Marshall residents as a peaceful way to get out on the water in their kayaks and boats.

Now, a little over a year later, the clean-up of the river is largely completed and residents are optimistic that the river habitat can return to its original status. What is interesting about this oil spill is how well the news surrounding it was handled. A search of the Internet shows very little negative news about Enbridge and how it handled one of the largest freshwater oil spills in American history.

This is a true testament to a strong and cohesive communication plan.

Managing Communication

With an oil spill, there really is no way for a company to hide. The mistakes and the oil are there for everyone to see and smell. In the past, companies really haven’t handled similar oil spills well - attempting to shield the media from the damaged sites and even trying to cover-up such environmental disasters.

Well, kudos to Enbridge - they did a good job of managing this oil spill. In fact so well that many of us likely didn’t realize that an oil spill of such a large magnitude had occured.

The keys to success for Enbridge in this matter were consistent communication and controlled messages. Yes, there were initial newspaper reports where citizens were quoted as stating that they really didn’t know what was going on and what would happen to the area.

But, Enbridge officials were quick to get their clean-up staff and public relations officials on site. With honest and open communication - they told the entire story about the spill and on the anniversary of the spill they were obliging to journalists interested in the clean-up progress one year later.

Consistency Prevents Panic

The lessons learned from this oil spill, which could have resulted in a  public relations disaster for Enbridge, include:

• A consistent message must be communicated on all platforms.
• You cannot hide from mistakes - particularly those which result in a disaster.
• Public perception will very much determine how your company is portrayed in the media.
• It is okay to admit your mistakes but do so only when you have a solid plan of action to present.
• Brag - yes - talk about the strides your company has made in recovering from a disaster and how you have worked with the community.

Through-out this entire one-year process, Enbridge has worked with the community of Marshall and environmental agencies to ensure that as much damage as possible was prevented. In addition, Enbridge has purchased a number of homes that were damaged as a result of the oil spill. And for those homeowners who were not happy with the Enbridge settlement, the company reacted proactively with confidentially agreements being signed upon further settlements being reached.

Enbridge is not hiding behind its mistakes and the crack in the pipeline. Rather company officials are quick to tell the media and public about the 3,200 animals that were affected and how the company managed the care of 400 turtles this past winter.

Ultimately, it is the honest approach taken by Enbridge officials that has worked to keep this story largely unreported and from causing mass panic and rumors from breaking out among Marshall citizens and others. Jason Manshum, an Enbridge official, was quoted recently as saying, “We have made a mess in this area, and for residents and businesses in this area. We have been working extremely hard over the last year to clean up.”

Communication Lessons for You

Ultimately, what can you take away from this? Remember that the keys to effective communication in the event of a disaster or threat are:

• Consistency at all times.
• Manage the message across all platforms - newspapers, television, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
• Honesty is your best policy.
• Follow-up with the media to demonstrate your progress in handling the disaster or threat.
• Work with community members and others to get involved and make sure everyone feels they can have input on how to respond to the situation.

To learn more about how vital a strong communication plan is - with respect to social media, be sure to register for the Social Media - What is Your Strategy webinar on August, 24.

On Wednesday June 15 the downtown core of Vancouver, B.C., broke out into complete chaos. Businesses were looted and damaged. Cars were set on fire and flipped over. People were attacked and beaten up. Portable toilets were flipped over.

The reason for this chaos can be traced to the loss of the Vancouver Canucks in the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs. With an incredible amount of people gathered in downtown Vancouver to watch the final game of the seven-game series on large outdoor screens – many of these people who were drinking and in a general state of frenzy – the chaos and riots have been chalked up by many as inevitable.

Planning Equals Prevention

But is this really the case? Were there not measures that could have been taken to reduce, mitigate and perhaps even prevent these riots? As you know preparation and forward thinking are key in maintaining the longevity of any business. This also rings true when it comes to preparing for the unexpected (or what some may say was the inevitable).

During the three hours of chaos that involved every member of the Vancouver Police Department and numerous private security personnel, there are some examples of businesses that were ready and prepared. When the Boston Bruins scored their first goal of the game in the early minutes of the hockey game, the manager of MAC Cosmetics placed a critical phone call to 24 Hour Glass Ltd. By calling 24 Hour Glass and asking the company to urgently come to their downtown store and board up their windows, the staff at MAC Cosmetics ensured that their store survived the riots unscathed.

Staff of 24 Hour Glass tell stories of people suggesting that they were overreacting by boarding up the windows of MAC Cosmetics. The staff responded with a telling statement “Just in case”.

Other businesses who did not act proactively were not as fortunate as MAC Cosmetics. Businesses were literally destroyed with windows smashed and rampant looting. The actions taken by MAC Cosmetics and 24 Hour Glass (who had a special team deployed to the downtown core ready and able to board up any windows and doors), demonstrate that this damage did not need to occur. Imagine what Thursday morning in downtown Vancouver would have looked like if all businesses had responded with proactive action.

Effective Planning

What about the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Police Department – what could they have done differently? There is no doubt that city officials and the police department were expecting chaos and riots. In fact a plan was drafted and tabled in April that detailed a policing strategy for the Stanley Cup playoffs. This is excellent and does show that the city has learned from the 1994 Stanley Cup riots that took over Vancouver. But this plan was written before planners knew that large screens would be set up in the downtown core – ultimately drawing more than 25,000 people to a concentrated area.

When the rioting started, the location of the screens meant that the police did not have the space or room to disperse the crowds. The police, rioters and innocent bystanders were in essence, trapped.

Communication Is The Difference

What could have helped to limit this chaos and the ensuing disaster? Communication. Effective and purposeful communication. Assuming there were city staff, security personnel or police who saw a few proactive businesses getting prepared for the riots – this was a perfect chance to send a message to business owners in the downtown core to take action and do the same. A short and simple message with contact details for companies such as 24 Hour Glass could have been sent out to all managers and owners of businesses in the area – connecting them to the companies and people that could have helped them save their business.

Admittedly, when the rioting starts it is too late to do much. But by using an automated incident process or by implementing a business continuity plan, the right people could have been contacted and alerted to the chaos. Maybe more people could have been brought in? Assuming the City of Vancouver has a disaster plan for such an event, the crisis could have been kept under control with the deployment of a coordinated disaster response.

Now, we’re not saying we have the answers. And we’re certainly not placing any blame. But hopefully you will stop and pause for thought. Realize how critical it is to be prepared, learn from past mistakes, update your plans as new information is learned, ensure that the people you need to contact can be contacted quickly, efficiently and effectively.

Yes, this really does come down to one thing: communication. Relevant communication of critical data to the right people at the right time can make all the difference a city or business needs.

A while ago, we found a post on EmergencyMgmt.com called “Emergency Notification AFTER the Emergency".   We thought it brought up an excellent point.  Most business continuity  and disaster recovery managers are focused on making sure that the  right people are alerted to the situation, whatever that may be – a fire  in building 4, a product recall, a snow storm, etc. – but post-event  information is equally important.  The people who were in building 4, or  that have been long time buyers of that product, or that are on that  flight delayed due to weather all want to know when the situation has  been remedied.

The post on emergencymgmt.com lists great channels for issuing the  post-event information – press releases, the media, the web, etc. – but  we think there’s an opportunity for it to be even more personal.  Send  the people who were affected a notification letting them know the  situation has been resolved in whatever format they want – a phone call,  an email, a text message, etc. And equally important, leave out the  people who are not affected by this situation, whether they are on  vacation, not at that location or  not in the immediate vicinity.  It’s  all about mass personalization, and with the aid of a relevance engine,  both the initial alert and the post-event notification can be  simplified.

If there’s one thing that we’ve learned over the past decade, it’s  that when disaster strikes, having the ability to stay in constant  communication with everyone affected and maintaining control over vital  business processes is essential.  There are three keys to keeping your  business up and running in a challenging situation:

1. Provide visibility into critical business functions to all stakeholders.   In times of crisis, many organizations find that critical information  isn’t available to the people who need to have access to it.   Stakeholders, decision makers, and affected individuals all need the  ability to access, share, and monitor critical information across the  business in real time.
2. Keep your systems available and sites operational – no matter what.   All organizations have fail-safes and back-up plans for when disasters  occur.  But these plans need to include a process that allows people to  interact with vital systems, applications, and technologies wherever  they are.  Authorized individuals need to be able to take action from  remote locations, whether this is from their mobile phone, through  email, or otherwise.  Important functions, like contact centers and  order fulfillment, must remain available so that your business can  continue to function smoothly and allow you to minimize loss during  times of crisis.
3. Seize the opportunity to take a competitive lead.   The ability to control and manage business processes flexibly and  remotely allows you to stay ahead of competitors.  If your competitors  are down, but you’re still operational, you can win additional business  and attract new, loyal customers. 

A great example of an xMatters customer that is grabbing the bull by  the horns in times of crisis is Denver International Airport – although  you might not consider consistent snow storms a crisis – the weather  certainly affects their business on a daily basis. Since getting planes  on and off the run way is their bread and butter, they depend on  communication to get everyone involved on high alert when uncooperative  weather patterns arise. Everyone from IT personnel and snow plow  operators to weather correspondents and ticketing agents need critical  information to keep passengers informed, planes in flight and personnel  ready to act. Read the case study now.

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