Crisis response and disaster contingency planning: are you ready?

From unfathomable national tragedies to unrelenting natural disasters, the age of crisis is here. In 2017 alone, extreme weather and natural disasters caused a total of $306 billion in damages across the U.S. – the most expensive year on record. Additionally, two million employees are victims of workplace violence each year, costing American businesses between $6-$36 billion annually.

And one of the saddest realities of this generation is the ability to easily name off a handful of mass shootings from recent memory: Newtown, Pulse, San Bernardino, Aurora, Las Vegas, and now Parkland, Florida.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), more than 40 percent of businesses never reopen after a disaster, and for those that do, only 29 percent were still operating after two years. On a personal level, up to 15 percent of the workforce experiences an increase in mental health problems in the aftermath of a critical incident or traumatic event. This age of crisis calls for brokers and consultants to take on a new role: to become strategic partners in crisis readiness.

Initiating a discussion to review current disaster contingency plans and critical incident response benefits is a good start.

Has the organization conducted a vulnerability audit or threat assessment?
Is there a budget for crisis planning and recovery?
Is there a plan in case of disaster, and when and how often is this plan reviewed and updated?
Is there an established crisis management response team, or EAP partner for comprehensive crisis readiness?
Has the workforce scheduled and completed annual crisis training on emergency preparedness and response procedures?
Is there a clear contact list and communication chain for internal and external stakeholders in the event of a crisis?
What professional resources or benefit services are in place to mitigate the effects of a crisis?
Are support services accessible 24/7 and open to all family members impacted?

Based on these questions and responses, brokers and consultants can bring new value to clients by identifying gaps in crisis readiness, creating custom-built solutions, and partnering with experienced providers to deliver strong and effective crisis management support at every stage of a critical incident or traumatic event. To help clients protect their business and their people, an employee assistance program (EAP) with dedicated crisis readiness services can mitigate risk and strengthen workplace resiliency.

Covering gaps in crisis readiness

Crisis readiness begins with pre-planning, and requires a combination of threat assessment, emergency preparedness, crisis response plan design, communication, training, and compliance assurances. Response services should be immediate and comprehensive, and include professional onsite critical incident stress debriefings to help all impacted appropriately address a wide range of emotional responses. A post-crisis debriefing should occur to assess any changes needed to strengthen crisis readiness and response, and revise any policies, programs or procedures accordingly.

Creating a custom-built solution

Crisis readiness and response needs vary based on organization type, location and workforce, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. For example, municipalities employ first responders and administrators, and require different critical incident response services based on employee group. A municipality's health and human services department may need a session with an onsite social worker, whereas their local police force prefers providers trained in Mitchell Model crisis intervention.

Certain lines of work, like hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and adult care facilities, deal with critical situations and tragedy at much higher rates than typical business. A best practice for these clients is to provide quarterly onsite open sessions for crisis fatigue or compassion fatigue. Other industries, such as construction, drilling, logging and mining, are more prone to onsite accidents and severe injuries. These organizations would benefit from incorporating comprehensive crisis prevention and recovery services into workplace safety programs.

Partnering with experienced crisis response providers

Strong partnership with an established provider of crisis management services is critical in times of need. As soon as news broke of Hurricane Harvey hitting the shores of Texas, ACI Specialty Benefits identified and reached out to over 300 impacted clients to initiate critical incident response and support services as part of ACI's EAP. One client location reported 20 employees had lost their homes and ACI was proactive in reaching out to each employee directly to provide clinical support and emergency resources specific to their circumstances.

Organizations large and small, across many industries, frequently undergo reductions in force, reorganizations, terminations, and location closures and would benefit from working with partners who provide workplace violence prevention tools and response services. In April 2017, ACI Specialty Benefits' Crisis Response Team received a call from a client in New York about a workplace shooting that occurred at a location out of state. The assailant had been terminated earlier that day, returned to the workplace and killed two managers, and then committed suicide.

ACI immediately coordinated onsite providers within 1.5 hours, who were on standby through the evening as local authorities were involved. ACI partnered with the client to develop an appropriate response strategy that included 32 critical incident stress debriefing sessions, across nine locations in multiple states, with Spanish-speaking providers for certain locations, over a seven-week period. Ongoing telephonic support sessions were available for all other employees and family members, to support the workforce in coping with such a shocking and tragic incident.

So many businesses are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on disaster contingency to secure data, but often overlook the investment to protect their most valuable asset: their people. Brokers need to ask clients, how are we protecting your human capital? How can we work together to make sure that protecting people is the top priority? This unfortunate age of crisis presents a unique opportunity for brokers and consultants to give clients the tools, support and services to prepare and recover from disaster with resilience.

Dr. Ann D. Clark is CEO and Founder of ACI Specialty Benefits, and Gilbert Manzano is Senior Vice President of Client Partnerships at ACI Specialty Benefits.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor