Pilot Record WorseThan the Cleveland Browns'

If you are a fan of the Cleveland Browns, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you are a fan. I also apologize for what I am about to write about their owner. Sorry. Maybe someday you will finish ahead of the Steelers in the standings. Maybe someday. I really do have friends in Cleveland, and so for you, I will tone down my anti-Browns rhetoric. A little bit.

Federal investigators allege that Pilot, a truck-stop chain that is the nation's largest diesel fuel retailer, deliberately withheld rebates from trucking companies to boost profits. The owner is Jimmy Haslam, who bought the Browns last year.

"'I take responsibility for what happens at PFJ as the guy at the top of the shop, but I was absolutely not aware of any of this,' Haslam said. 'As soon as we found out there was an issue, we immediately began taking an aggressive stance in finding out what happened, No. 1, and righting the ship, No. 2.'"  (http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9281639/cleveland-browns-owner-jimmy-haslam-absolutely-not-aware-pfj-issues)

Haslam found out what happened to the Browns, No 1 -- they stink -- and righted that ship, No. 2. They rose from 4-12 in 2011 to 5-11 in 2012.

"Haslam said a review under way by auditors shows that about 250 trucking companies out of 400 that were on a 'manual' fuel rebate program may have problems with their rebates. That's out of about 5,000 trucking company customers served by Pilot Flying J. He called the initial assessment 'a little fluid' because auditors are still digging into what transpired."  (http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/05/pilot_flying_js_jimmy_haslam_t.html)

The Pilot CEO, brother of the Tennessee governor, and Browns' majority owner was said to be a leader expected to be closely involved with the team's operations. "'Unfortunately, there were some things that happened a couple of levels below me' at Pilot Flying J that he missed. 'It's a blip. It may be a substantial blip. But in no way, shape or form does it affect my ownership of the Browns,' he said."

Nevertheless, the franchise continues to consider a name change to the Cleveland Blips.

FBI and IRS agents who descended on Pilot Flying J's headquarters in Knoxville on April 15 were looking for evidence of rebate fraud that allegedly took place at the company for more than five years, according to a search warrant affidavit used in the raid.

There was no word on whether any Browns' ticket holders were claiming fraud.

"An embarrassed Haslam said that his company had been sullied by the claims, and he called for a series of changes in the way Pilot Flying J does business."

The Browns, however, will continue the same style of play: rotten.

"The affidavit indicates rebate fraud was widespread and used to boost sales commissions and company profits. It lists 35 current or former Pilot employees that it said are or were involved in supervising or supporting the sale of diesel fuel. It doesn't suggest that all them were involved in illegal activity. But it says Haslam and Pilot President Mark Hazelwood knew about shortchanging customers because they attended sales meetings where it was discussed."

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh's firm has been hired by trucking companies suing Haslam's Pilot Flying J.  Freeh's firm last year issued a 267-page report on Penn State's handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. "A Pilot spokesman said the company had no comment on who was involved in the lawsuit."  (http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2013-05-15/louis-freeh-jimmy-haslam-fbi-investigation-pilot-flying-j-cleveland-browns)

"(Haslam) asked trucking customers to stick by the ... company, saying it needed their business, even though Pilot Flying J's business had stabilized. The company's banks have been cooperating with Pilot Flying J, he said, but some of the company's oil suppliers had sought 'reduced terms,' meaning they had sought reduced turnaround time for payments."  (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324767004578486930489848880.html)

The Browns' performance also has stabilized. They haven't had a winning season since 2007 and haven't won a playoff game since 1994. The last time they won two playoff games in the same year was 1950. Now that's stability!

I am keeping my tongue firmly in my cheek. My research convinces me that Pilot had some out-of-control managers that enjoyed ripping off customers. Haslam needs to take swift action to minimize the effects of this crisis. That means cooperating with outside agencies, investigating internally, and replacing those responsible for withholding rebates.

Fortunately, Pilot employees with poor images of their company, need only wait until September and the start of the Browns' season to give them something to laugh about. Go Steelers!

Prisoners Are Stirred, Reviews of Aramark Food Is Mixed, But Company Not Beaten

Some working for a contractor that provides food to prisons may be eating their own food one of these days.

Aramark serves meals for 45,000 state prisoners in Michigan. The company is accused there of skimping on food and overbilling in other states, according to audit reports.

Florida fired Aramark five years ago after the state repeatedly fined the company for contract violations, and an audit accused Aramark of cutting costs and boosting profits by skimping on meals.

In Kentucky, corrections officers said a 2009 riot at the Northpoint Training Center was provoked by poor food service by Aramark. A 2010 report by Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts Crit Luallen identified food skimping, food safety issues, and excessive billings and said Aramark refused to provide requested records related to its food costs, personnel costs, and bonuses paid to managers. (http://louisvillecourierjournal.ky.newsmemory.com/?token=015bc10906bb76b786b07763ff690a06&cnum=2757587&fod=1111111STD&selDate=20130509&licenseType=paid_subscriber&)

Aramark's website claims, "In 2012, FORTUNE magazine again recognized ARAMARK on its list of 'World’s Most Admired Companies.' ARAMARK has consistently ranked since 1998 as one of the top three most admired companies in its industry as evaluated by peers and analysts. Also in 2012, ARAMARK was honored as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute." (http://www.aramark.com/aboutaramark/)

Aramark also says, "ARAMARK Correctional Services (ACS) provides a wide range of food, facility and other customized support solutions to over 600 correctional facilities across North America. ACS prepares well over 1,000,000 meals a day for state and municipal facilities, partnering with our clients to meet the unique challenges of the corrections environment.... As a partner, we offer innovative pricing solutions to fit your budget. (http://www.aramark.com/Industries/CorrectionalInstitutions/)

Indiana and other states would come down closer to Aramark's internet boasts. "In Indiana, where the state prisons food contract with Aramark is credited with saving the state more than $11 million a year, the National Governors Association in February gave Aramark an award for a prison vocational program it said has reduced recidivism."  (http://louisvillecourierjournal.ky.newsmemory.com/?token=015bc10906bb76b786b07763ff690a06&cnum=2757587&fod=1111111STD&selDate=20130509&licenseType=paid_subscriber&)

Back in Michigan, political lines have been drawn. The state will eliminate 370 government jobs for which Michigan plans to pay Aramark $50 million a year to feed prisoners. "The initial analysis of bids, conducted by officials from Technology, Management & Budget and the Department of Corrections, found Aramark’s bid would not save 5 percent — the minimum required by the Civil Service Commission to privatize state jobs. But after Republican lawmakers raised concerns, officials identified errors in the analysis and said savings would be close to 20 percent."Neither the Press Room nor Aramark in the News on the company's website say anything about the audit accusations.

Company Making Good-Tasting Drinks Needs Better-Tasting Ads

Communicators and others must deal with a wide gray area between proper and offensive. Do you say "Merry Christmas? or "Happy Holidays?" Once I had a woman complain because I wrote "more bang for the buck" because she thought it was obscene.

But how could anyone at Pepsico miss the tasteless ad run for Mountain Dew? The brand primarily is marketed to young men and sometimes tries its hand at edgier spots. But enough people felt insulted that Pepsi pulled it off the air.

This seems like a no-brainer to me. "Did Pepsi really think this ad was OK? The ad—which was part of a series developed by African-American rapper Tyler, The Creator, and depicted a battered white woman on crutches being urged to identify a suspect out of a lineup of black men—was so over-the-top wrong, one wonders how a corporate marketing team wouldn't see the potential backlash." (https://www.bulldogreporter.com/dailydog/article/mountain-dews-lambasted-ad-illustrates-risks-that-youth-targeting-brands-must-take-)

Laura Ries, president of the Atlanta marketing firm Ries & Ries, called this "street cred." I think the e should have been a u. "If Pepsi had created an ad for Mountain Dew, for example, she said it might not have been considered edgy or cool. But by handing over control to a celebrity, she said the company ran the risk of having an ad that wasn't appropriate, an AP news release reports."

Every ad I've ever been involved in needed approvals from several people several times. If opinions about offensiveness had been mixed, I would have paid a little bit for a focus group instead of paying a lot for production that went out with yesterday's garbage.

Pepsi issued a statement, "We apologize for this video and take full responsibility. We have removed it from all Mountain Dew channels and Tyler is removing it from his channels as well."

Management of Odd Future, the hip-hop collective led by Tyler, the Creator, issued a statement apologizing and insisting the ad was taken out of context. "It noted the men in the ad's lineup are Tyler's friends and Odd Future members.
The artist 'absolutely never intended to spark a controversy about race,' the statement said. 'It was simply an, again, admittedly absurd story that was never meant to be taken seriously.'"

It's not like no one could have seen this crisis coming. Mountain Dew recently took heat because of its endorsement deal with Lil Wayne, whose rap lyrics compared a rough sex act to the tortuous death of a black teen who was murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman. Last month, Reebok ended its agreement with Rick Ross after he rapped about giving a woman drugs to have his way with her.

Street cred has no place in the business world. At least not yet. Be funny without being offensive. Don't be afraid to try focus groups. Make sure copy goes through the execs in the corner offices. Usually, if something causes you to hesitate, it probably should be junked.

A Computer Att-Hack Is a Very Real and Not-So-Rare Crisis

Denial gets in the way of crisis communications planning. Organization leaders like to pretend they will never experience a crisis; not as long as they are in charge. They will never have a fire, workplace violence, a fatality, someone cooking the books, a natural disaster, or an employee whistleblower.

And no one would ever get through all our defenses and hack into our computer system.

Verizon has published a 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report. (http://www.verizonenterprise.com/DBIR/2013/) "Am I a target of espionage? Some may already know the answer to this question by firsthand experience. Many others assume they aren’t or haven’t thought much about it. Despite the growing number of disclosures and sometimes alarmist news coverage, many still see espionage as a problem relevant only to the Googles of the world. Unfortunately, this is simply not true."

 Verizon's report stresses that all organizations regardless of size are equally vulnerable to an electronic attack, based on 2012 data. The business you are in, however, does make a difference. The top 10 industries to be hacked last year are:

1. Retail
2. Manufacturing
3. Information
4. Food Services
5. Professional
6. Finance
7. Transportation
8. Public
9. Other Services
10. Utilities

37%	of breaches affected financial organizations (+)	Victims in this report span restaurants, retailers, media companies, banks, utilities, engineering firms, multi-national corporations, security providers, defense contractors, government agencies, and more across the globe. A definite relationship exists between industry and attack motive, which is most likely a byproduct of the data targeted (e.g., stealing payment cards from retailers and intellectual property [IP] from manufacturers).  • A plus (+) sign indicates either a 10% or greater increase from the previous year’s report • A minus (-) sign indicates either a 10% or greater decrease from the previous year’s report
24%	of breaches occurred in retail environments and restaurants (-)
20%	of network intrusions involved manufacturing, transportation, and utilities (+)
20%	of network intrusions hit information and professional services firms (+)
38%	of breaches impacted larger organizations (+)
27	different countries are represented

How Do Breaches Occur?

52%	used some form of hacking (-)	The one-two combo of hacking and malware struck less often this round, but definitely isn’t down for the count. Filtering out the large number of physical ATM skimming incidents shows exploitation of weak and stolen credentials still standing in the ring. The proportion of breaches incorporating social tactics like phishing was four times higher in 2012. Credit the rise of this challenger to its widespread use in targeted espionage campaigns. Correlated with the 14% of breaches tied to insiders, privilege misuse weighs in at 13%. Insider actions ranged from simple card skimming to far more complicated plots to smuggle corporate IP to competitors.
76%	of network intrusions exploited weak or stolen credentials (-)
40%	incorporated malware (-)
35%	involved physical attacks (+)
29%	leveraged social tactics (+)
13%	resulted from privilege misuse and abuse

"All of the above takes forever and a day to discover, and that discovery is rarely made by the victim."

What can we do about it?

• Eliminate unnecessary data; keep tabs on what’s left.
• Ensure essential controls are met; regularly check that they remain so.
• Collect, analyze and share incident data to create a rich data source that can drive security program effectiveness.
• Collect, analyze, and share tactical threat intelligence, especially Indicators of Compromise (IOCs), that can greatly aid defense and detection.
• Without deemphasizing prevention, focus on better and faster detection through a blend of people, processes, and technology.
• Regularly measure things like "number of compromised systems" and "mean time to detection" in networks. Use them to drive security practices.
• Evaluate the threat landscape to prioritize a treatment strategy. Don’t buy into a "one-size fits all" approach to security.
• If you’re a target of espionage, don’t underestimate the tenacity of your adversary. Nor should you underestimate the intelligence and tools at your disposal.

I'll add one to Verizon's list. Have a crisis communications plan that includes a section about computer hacking. Who are your primary audiences? What are your initial messages, and have they been approved ahead of time by Legal? Which members of the crisis team need called in? When do you first make public disclosure? And there are more questions you need to answer in advance.

When data in your system has been compromised, it's too late to write a crisis communications plan. Get started. If you're not sure how, it isn't too late to sign up for the Institute for Crisis Management's two-day Certification Course. The next one is May 14-15. See http://crisisconsultant.com/workshops/ for more information.

Update: Pill Pushers at Pain Clinic Plead Guilty

Here's an update of a story I posted January 25, 2012. (http://crisisexperts.blogspot.com/2012/01/kentucky-clinic-raided-doctor-charged.html)  I wrote then, "For more than two years, until his Feb. 16 arrest, Dr. Richard Albert doled out prescriptions for narcotics like candy on Halloween night. He wrote them in the office for people who received only a cursory physical examination, or none at all. He wrote them on Easter Sunday in the living room of his home. He wrote them in a fast-food restaurant parking lot.

"And sometimes he merely signed them, with clinic employees later filling in the blanks, including the patient's name and the narcotic drug being prescribed." (http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20111220/NEWS01/120125018)
Before Albert pleaded guilty, Tammy Cantrell, one of  the owners of Care More Pain Management in Paintsville, Kentucky, denied that he violated any law while working at her clinic or that she knew what he was doing.

"He done his meanness after hours,' Cantrell said in an interview. What he was doing illegal was after hours, not on our time."

Here's what's new. Cantrell and co-owner Shelby Lackey pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to conspiracy to distribute and unlawfully dispense oxycodone and maintaining a drug-involved premise.

"Cantrell and Lackey agreed to forfeit about $500,000 — proceeds from the conspiracy, officials said. They are the first pain clinic owners in the 67-county Eastern District of Kentucky to be convicted federally of operating a pill mill and conspiring to illegally distribute the powerful painkiller oxycodone,"   (http://louisvillecourierjournal.ky.newsmemory.com/?token=cdb16383b177f3032fd0ff7b7eb4cc6f&cnum=2757587&fod=1111111STD&selDate=20130427&licenseType=paid_subscriber&)

The pair will be sentenced in September.

Update: Fellowship of Churches Crumbles Under the Strain of Doctrine Disagreements, Authoritarian Rule, and ... Oh Yeah, Alleged Child Rape

 A church, started in Maryland, is now known as Covenant Life Church. Thirty-some years later it is a prosperous local church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, with about 3,000 members. Through the years, Covenant Life adopted other churches. This fellowship of dozens of churches eventually became known as Sovereign Grace Ministries. It moved its headquarters to Louisville in 2012 amid a split with its former flagship church in Gaithersburg

I blogged about a crisis in Sovereign Grace on January 23 of this year. (http://crisisexperts.blogspot.com/2013/01/abuse-and-cover-up-suits-filed-against.html)

Sovereign Grace is criticized by some of having an authoritarian and spiritually abusive culture. Several churches have broken off or distanced themselves from Sovereign Grace in the past year. A lawsuit filed against the church last year accuses several church officials of physically abusing children over many years.

The latest is that the lawsuit is expanding and progressing. "The lawsuit alleges that the church fostered a climate of fear and unquestioning obedience and that it pressured young victims and families involved with Sovereign Grace churches in Maryland and Virginia to forgive abusive members who had professed repentance and not to report them to police.

"The lawsuit was expanded in January with new allegations. Eight plaintiffs are suing, all using pseudonyms. In legal filings seeking to get the case dismissed, Sovereign Grace lawyers said the allegations are so vague 'that it is nearly impossible to tell who committed the acts of abuse and when and where the alleged acts of cover-up occurred.'”  (http://louisvillecourierjournal.ky.newsmemory.com/?token=cdb16383b177f3032fd0ff7b7eb4cc6f&cnum=2757587&fod=1111111STD&selDate=20130427&licenseType=paid_subscriber&
Church lawyers said that by accusing Sovereign Grace of demanding unquestioned obedience to pastoral leaders, the plaintiffs have put the spiritual and doctrinal affairs of Sovereign Grace and the local churches directly at issue — "matters off limits for secular courts under the religious-liberty clauses of the First Amendment."

The plaintiffs’ lawyers, Susan Burke and William O’Neill, replied in court documents that the suit is about a church network protecting predators from prosecution.

“'The First Amendment prevents the courts from becoming entangled in religious doctrine; it does not bestow a ‘get out of jail free’ card on wrongdoers who happen to be cloaked in religious garb or who claim to operate with religious authority,' the plaintiffs said, citing numerous court rulings against other denominations in sexual-abuse cases."

The plaintiffs’ lawyers plan to amend the lawsuit again in the near future, adding plaintiffs and accusations. Court documents said the plaintiffs would allege abuse by John Loftness, pastor of Solid Rock Church in Prince Georges County, Maryland.

"Loftness resigned as chairman of the denomination’s board earlier this year, citing church and family responsibilities. He referred a request for comment to a denominational spokesman, who did not immediately return emailed requests for comment."

The plaintiffs are asking for about $50 million in damages.

"Several congregations — including two large ones also named as defendants in the lawsuit — have left the denomination amid controversies that included disputes over the leadership practices of the denomination’s longtime president, C.J. Mahaney, who stepped down earlier in April. Mahaney is pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville."

I plan to continue following the court process. I look at what happened in the Catholic church and don't see much difference except for the number of alleged abuse victims. There's no excuse for pedophilia, no matter how religious molesters pretend to be.

Ignoring a Smoldering Crisis in Bangladesh kills 300; Arrests to Come

Okay, but that was Bangladesh, you say. That never could happen in America. Our buildings are built soundly, and if one appears unsafe, no one will be allowed inside until it is secure and inspected.

I'm alluding to the garment factories that collapsed in Savar, a suburb of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. As of this afternoon, 304 bodies have been recovered, many more people were injured, and others remain trapped in the rubble, their fate unknown. The eight-story building housed numerous garment factories and a handful of other companies.

"Police say cracks in the Rana Plaza had led them to order an evacuation Tuesday, but the factories ignored the order and were operating when the building collapsed the next day. Video before the collapse shows cracks in walls, with apparent attempts at repair. It also shows columns missing chunks of concrete and police talking to building operators. Officials said soon after the collapse that numerous construction regulations had been violated."  (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/04/26/bangladesh-building-collapse/2115449/)

The factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was unknown how many were inside when it collapsed Wednesday.

If you think something like that couldn't happen in the tightly regulated U.S., think again. Rock Gaming of Detroit was constructing a casino in Cleveland that collapsed. Same company, same state: In Cincinnati, a casino being built collapsed, injuring 13, one seriously. See my blog on January 28, 2012. (http://crisisexperts.blogspot.com/2012/01/companies-communicate-after.html) We've had bridges collapse and sink holes swallow cars and buildings. We all need to be prepared for such  a crisis wherever we live and work.

"Abdul Halim, an official with Savar's engineering department, said the owner of Rana Plaza was allowed to erect a five-story building but had added another three stories illegally.

"Mahbubul Haque Shakil, a spokesman for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said she had ordered police to arrest the building's owner as well as the owners of the garment factories in 'the shortest possible time.' Police chief Mohammed Asaduzzaman said police and the government's Capital Development Authority have filed negligence cases against the building owner, identified as Mohammed Sohel Rana."

The disaster is the worst ever for Bangladesh's booming garment industry, surpassing a fire just five months ago that killed 112 people and brought widespread promises to improve worker safety. "Since then, very little has changed in Bangladesh, where low wages have made it a magnet for numerous global brands."

Police cordoned off the site, pushing back thousands of bystanders and relatives after rescue workers complained the crowds were hampering their work. Fights erupted between frustrated relatives and police, who used batons to disperse them. Police said 50 people were injured in the skirmishes.

Meanwhile, thousands of workers from hundreds of garment factories across the Savar industrial zone and other nearby areas marched to protest the poor safety standards in Bangladesh. Local news reports said demonstrators smashed dozens of cars Friday, But most of the protests were largely peaceful.

Here is a smoldering crisis: a building declared unsafe and factory owners refused to close down and vacate. It happens all the time all over the world, often on a much smaller scale. But it does happen. If you look back through my 5 1/2 years of blogging about crisis communications, you'll find many examples of people who ignore evidence of a smoldering crisis until it makes the news as a full-blown, lower-the-lifeboats crisis.

Don't be like that. Develop a crisis communications plan. Review it. Practice it. And create a Management Early Warning System for your organization that will get managers and all employees to be sensitive to smoldering crises that need to be addressed before the roof caves in. Maybe literally.

Barge Blaze Forces Evacuation of Cruise Ship That's No Stranger to Sudden Crises

Firefighters this morning battled a huge blaze that erupted when two fuel barges exploded in Mobile, Alabama, leaving three people with critical burns and forcing the evacuation of crew from a nearby cruise ship.

The story and pictures of the exploding barges caught my attention. But what really pulled me in was the name of that evacuated cruise ship. It was the Carnival Triumph. Yes, the same Carnival Triumph that became disabled in the Gulf of Mexico in February and had to be towed to Mobile's port. Workers bailed early today. They were trying to fix the electrical problem that stranded passengers in the middle of the gulf with little to eat and drink and lack of air conditioning and sanitary conditions. (See my blog post on February 14 at http://crisisexperts.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-carnival-triumph-turns-to-defeat-as.html) The Triumph was evacuated, said Alan Waugh, who lives across the river from the scene of the explosions. Waugh saw the blasts and said Carnival employees and others were standing together on the street as authorities evacuated the entire shipyard.

"Carnival didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment late Wednesday."  (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/25/fuel-barges-explode-catch-fire-on-mobile-river-in-alabama/)

By late Thursday morning as I write this, there's no comment on Carnival's website nor on the site of Houston-based Kirby Inland Marine, which owns the barges.

But Kirby Inland had a spokesperson who talked to reporters. "(Greg Beuerman) said the barges were empty and being cleaned at the Oil Recovery Co. facility when the incident began. He said the barges had been carrying a liquid called natural gasoline -- which he said is neither liquefied natural gas or natural gas. He said the company has dispatched a team to work with investigators to determine what caused the fire."

There's got to be a curse on the Triumph. According to its blog, "Carnival Cruise Lines is cancelling an additional two five-day voyages of the Carnival Triumph following a severe storm on Wednesday, April 3, in Mobile where it was undergoing repairs at a local wet dock facility.

"During the storm, which had winds exceeding 70 miles per hour, Carnival Triumph broke away from its moorings at the BAE shipyard when four of the bollards on the pier that the mooring lines were tied to broke apart, causing damage to the vessel and delaying repair work.... The situation has resulted in a 10-day delay in the scheduled repair plan. The Carnival Triumph is now scheduled to return to service from Galveston, Texas, on June 13." (http://carnival-news.com/2013/04/18/two-additional-carnival-triumph-sailings-cancelled-ship-scheduled-to-return-to-service-on-june-13/)

Kirby Inland so far has nothing on its website about the explosions and fire on its barges. Ironically, the company's safety blog hours before the fire contained a post about 911 and the explosions in Boston and West, Texas. "For the past several days, we have learned to respect and appreciate our first responders, more than ever.... It is events such as these that we realize how truly important our first responders are." (http://kirbyinlandmarinesafety.wordpress.com/)

Kirby Inland now can join Carnival Triumph, the Boston Marathon, and West Fertilizer Company on the list of those who have suffered serious sudden crises. We can learn from them. I don't know which if any was operating from a crisis communications plan. Carnival, maybe. The others, I would guess probably not.

How about you? Are you prepared for the worst? Do you know what you would say in the first hour, families you would contact, employees you would call, customers and suppliers who need to know their operations might be affected, political leaders who want to be in the loop.... You may have other key audiences. But without contact lists, you will be hard-pressed during a sudden crisis to think clearly and find the time to make your lists on the fly.

No matter how big or how small you are, you must have a crisis communications plan.

Potent Bird Flu in China Is Spreading and Killing; Could Become the Next Pandemic

A new type of bird flu has killed 22 people in China since March.

"This is one of the most lethal influenza viruses we have seen so far," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization's Assistant Director-General for Health Security. "We are at the beginning of our understanding of this virus."

Most of the H7N9 cases so far have been found in eastern China, around the Yangtze River delta, but recently people have been stricken in central and northern China, including Bejing.

"'Evidence so far is not sufficient to conclude there is person-to-person transmission. Moreover, no sustained person-to-person transmission has been found,'” Fukuda said.

"The experts concluded that live poultry markets were the most likely source of infection."
 (http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/24/17890906-new-bird-flu-strain-one-of-most-lethal-influenza-viruses?lite)

Chinese authorities closed live poultry markets, and no new cases have been reported in Shanghai since their closure.

"A 53-year-old Taiwanese man who worked in eastern China was confirmed to have H7N9 on Wednesday, the Taiwanese Centers for Disease Control said. His condition was described to be severe. He had been traveling back and forth regularly between China's Jingsu province and Taiwan, health officials said.

 

"'According to the case, he had not been exposed to birds and poultry during his stay in Suzhou (in Jingsu province) and had not consumed undercooked poultry or eggs,'" the Taiwanese CDC said."  (http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/24/world/asia/china-birdflu/index.html?hpt=hp_t3)

 

So far, H7N9 hasn't been detected in migratory birds. But if the flu spreads person to person, and experts aren't sure yet if it does, anyone traveling could spread the virus among everyone on the plane, in the airport, and at the final destination.

 

Do you have your pandemic plan ready? You should have completed it several years ago when H1N1 was the concern. That flu killed 332 people between 2004 and 2007.

 

If you aren't sure what your plan should include, please check the blog post on April 10 of Larry Smith of the Institute for Crisis Management. I'll excerpt a few key points from his blog (http://www.crisisconsultants.blogspot.com/):

 

"The World Health Organization says the world is 'overdue' for an influenza pandemic, since mass epidemics have occurred every 20 to 30 years and it’s been nearly 40 years since the last one. The worst outbreak of influenza was in 1918 and it claimed 50-million lives around the globe and 500-thousand in the US, alone....

 

"Planning should proceed on two fronts:
1.      How are you going to maintain a minimal level of service/productivity?
2.      How are you going to communicate quickly and effectively with key audiences?

 

"Human Resources, Purchasing, Transportation, Marketing and Sales all need a plan to keep the business functioning. Plan for how you are going to keep operating with more than the normal number of people out sick and knowing that some will never be back....

 

"When your vendors are facing the same sickness and absenteeism, and your delivery services are slowed by sickness, how will you maintain operations? You need to anticipate:
·      What will you do
·       What will you say

·       How will you decide if you have to close a plant, store, distribution center or office
           

"The communication challenge is just as significant. You need a plan in place to communicate with employees, to reassure them, if you can:

·      Their jobs will be safe
·      This will end and life will return to normal (whatever that is)
·      The company will stand by them and their families if the worst happens...

 

 "For those companies that do business in Southeast Asia, China and Mexico, planning is even more important because conditions in many of those countries and health care shortcomings will exacerbate the impact of a flu pandemic."

 

There's much more on Larry's blog. Check it out and don't hesitate to contact the Institute for Crisis Management if you need help with your pandemic plan.

An Anonymous Source Told Me I Shouldn't Believe Anonymous Sources

No matter how hard you try to control the flow of information during a crisis, there's no guarantee that someone won't leak the story to the media. There's really no way to stop it. People just naturally like to be helpful to others.

So when a reporter is attacking them with questions, they may speak to be cooperative or because they were tricked into responding. I've run into people who think they are required by some law to answer reporters' questions. The reporter publishes or airs the information unable to verify the facts.

The Boston Marathon bombings provide a good example. On Monday, the day of the explosions that killed three and injured about 180, a "reliable source" told CNN that a dark-skinned suspect had been apprehended.

“'I want to be very careful about this because people get very sensitive when you say these things,' said CNN’s John King during a report. 'I was told by one of these sources, who is a law enforcement official, that this was a dark-skinned male. The official used some other words, I’m not going to repeat them until we get more information because of the sensitivities. There are some people that will take offense even at saying that.'

"But there was no arrest. And what does skin have to do with it?" (http://louisvillecourierjournal.ky.newsmemory.com/?token=4dae022b5457357022b2a79112907293&cnum=2757587&fod=1111111STD&selDate=20130422&licenseType=paid_subscriber&)

I know what  skin has to do with it. The so-called official was trying to tie a Middle East terrorist into the bombings.

Fox also said there was an arrest and then had to back off.

And then there's the anonymous expert who speaks when he should remain silent. An Associated Press story today refers to "an unnamed source who was not authorized to speak publicly on the case." This person spilled the beans anyway, either to feel important or to be helpful to the reporter.

How do you prevent leaks? You can't. The best you can do is remind people that only these folks over there can speak of anything regarding the crisis. But in a case like Boston's, there are so many agencies involved that someone is going to let the proverbial cat out of the proverbial bag, fact or not. It's our jobs as communicators to accept that loose lips will sink ships sometimes and deal with the leak as best we can.