Crisis Management@CERN Simon Baird
EN Seminar 30th January 2014
Crisis Management @ CERN
What is Crisis Management?
Some examples of organizational reactions to a crisis
What were our aims for Crisis Management at CERN?
What defines a crisis for CERN
How did we establish Crisis Management plans/procedures
Who is involved, what should they do, where do they do it
Crisis communication plan
First Crisis Management exercises
Future actions
What is Crisis Management?
… is the process by which an Organization deals with a
major event, which threatens to harm the Organization,
its stakeholders or the general public.
… and consists of
Defining what constitutes a Crisis, and therefore should trigger
the pre-established response mechanisms
Defining and implementing these response mechanisms
Management and Communication during the response phase
(including post-Crisis actions)
No matter how well we prepare “accidents will happen”
Risk can be minimized but not eliminated
What defines a crisis?
A Crisis has 3 elements:- Threat to the Organization and its correct operation
Surprise
Short decision time
Different types of crisis?
Technological; Complex systems go wrong, human error…
Natural disaster: Earthquake, flood, extreme weather….
Man-made disasters: Terrorism, plane crash…
Confrontational: Strike, boycott, sit-in…
Negligence: Managerial misconduct, misuse of funds….
External criminal acts: Computer hacking, sabotage, hostage taking…
Reputational: Spread of information which harms an Organization's reputation…
Reaction to a crisis
Detection
How do we know we have a crisis?
Preparedness
What are we going to do?
Limitation
We need to act quickly
Recovery
How can we get back to business as usual?
Lessons
What can we do better in future?
See the crisis as an opportunity
Examples of reactions to a crisis
Examples……………. (Good)
In 1982 a well-known over-the-counter drug was poisoned
(product tampering) with cyanide (7 deaths)
Prompt action = Millions of capsules were immediately withdrawn
from sale and destroyed (cost =100M dollars)
Taking responsibility = CEO appeared in person to explain what was
being done
Tamper-proof containers were rapidly introduced
Rumours of contaminated cans of a popular soft drink (1993)
Taking responsibility = Company CEO appeared live on TV with
videos showing the canning process
Prompt action = Company enlisted support of FDA (Food & Drugs
Administration) from the beginning
Rumours turned out to be a hoax
Examples……………… (Bad)
Smartphone design flaw = short circuit caused loss of
reception, when held in a certain position
Denial = “It is not a big issue…”
Blame someone else = “Do not hold it that way…”
Not telling the truth = “There is no reception issue, stay
tuned…”
Internet security breach for a major games network
On-line game network was shutdown, when it was found that
personal (including credit card) details for 77 million
customers were compromised
Not acting promptly = No-one was told for a week that their
personal data could have been stolen
Examples……………… (Ugly)
Major brand 4×4 in accidents = at least 100 deaths
Blame someone else. = “It is not the car it’s the tires… “not the tires
it’s the car…. “The drivers did not inflate tires properly…
Lack of Communication = No formal communication with the public
until both companies were called to testify before the US
Congress….
Gulf of Mexico oil spill
Denying responsibility = “This is not our accident. .. “The drilling rig
was operated by another company. .. “We are not responsible
Giving incorrect information = Announcing spill as 1000 barrels per
day when it was 5000
….
What were our aims for CERN? Ensure that the CERN Management fully supports the idea
Study a number of Major Events (or Crises) which have affected CERN in the past,
Validate, which Major Events should be classified as Crises
Decide on the most likely Crises CERN will face in the future
Establish a Crisis Management Team (CMT), whose role will be to manage a Crisis, whenever it occurs.
Establish the list of CMT members (and alternates).
Establish a Crisis Management Centre (CMC) at CERN, from which the CMT can operate
Establish the procedures the CMT will use during the management of a Crisis
Set up training exercises by simulating Crises and the Organisational response to them.
Propose actions to:-
Minimize the likelihood and severity (impact) of potential future Crises at CERN
Ensure that the Organization can learn from a Crisis, and our response to it,
What defines a crisis?
Indications are:
Numerous injuries or casualties
Evacuation of personnel
Severe impact on the operation of CERN facilities
Serious damage to CERN facilities
Serious damage to the environment
Serious radiological impact
….
These are indications… better to have a measure?
CERN Adverse Event Scale
CCC/TI Deviation Anomaly Incident Serious
Incident
Accident
Level 0 1 2 3 4
Description Alarm with
no stop of
facilities
Short stop of
equipment
causing facility
stop
Significant stop
of a facility
Possible
equipment
damage
Major on-site
equipment damage
Minor off-site damage
Non-reversible on-site
damage
Major off-site damage
Events Laser level 1
or 2 alarms
Downtime few
hours
Downtime 24 -
72 hours
Downtime several
weeks.
Serious affect on
physics program
Event outside normal
operation's scenarios
Downtime several
months
Serious threat to future
operations
Political impact
2011 5256 102 5 0
0
Examples E.g. power cuts,
thunder
storms, water
problems…
E.g. Storm trips
MP7 loop =
LHC without
power
July 2006 power
failure
BA3 Fire
Sept. 2008 sector 3-4
Escalation TI Operator TI Operator,
technical
responsible
TI supervisor,
Group and
Dept Leader
CMT & DG CMT & DG
CCC/TI Deviation Anomaly Incident Serious
Incident
Accident
Level 0 1 2 3 4
Description Alarm with
no stop of
facilities
Short stop of
equipment
causing facility
stop
Significant stop
of a facility
Possible
equipment
damage
Major on-site
equipment damage
Minor off-site damage
Non-reversible on-site
damage
Major off-site damage
Events Laser level 1
or 2 alarms
Downtime few
hours
Downtime 24 -
72 hours
Downtime several
weeks.
Serious affect on
physics program
Event outside normal
operation's scenarios
Downtime several
months
Serious threat to future
operations
Political impact
2011 5256 102 5 0
0
Examples E.g. power cuts,
thunder
storms, water
problems…
E.g. Storm trips
MP7 loop =
LHC without
power
July 2006 power
failure
BA3 Fire
Sept. 2008 sector 3-4
Escalation TI Operator TI Operator,
technical
responsible
TI supervisor,
Group and
Dept Leader
CMT & DG CMT & DG
Crisis Management Documents
CERN Crisis Management Policy = what
Mandate, scope & principles,
Responsibility & accountability,
Monitoring of performance
CERN Crisis Management Procedures = how
Notification & activation,
Team functions & responsibilities,
Situation assessment, issues and actions, decision
processes & logging….
CERN Crisis Communications Plan
Crisis Management Team structure
Functions, members & responsibilities
Concept of operations
What constitutes a crisis
Notification & Activation
Crisis response process
Standard meeting agenda
Situation Assessment & SITREP
Checklists for issues & actions
Stakeholder matrix
Actions & Outcomes table (information management)
Decision and process logging
CERN Crisis Management Procedures
External review by specialized consultants
Followed by a training program on crisis management
Overview of crisis management best-practice
Describe the tools and techniques
Roles and responsibilities
Use of the CERN CM procedures
How the CMT should operate
Feedback on the training
“Need of more practical trainings”
“Nice course. Good introduction. But if a crisis happened tomorrow it would still be chaos, although better organised chaos. “
“Tendency to stumble into the silver level and debate details too long would certainly happen.”
External review in February 2013
Comms team: Media
Public
Staff Users
Member States
Host States
Host State HSE
The CMT
Chair
Head of
Comms.
hair
Technical
Lead
Emergency
Services Safety Information
Management Admin
Support
Dept.
Leaders LHC tech
Coords
40 people
Members & alternates
+ Directors
Log keeper DG
The CMT CMT Leader Simon Baird
Alternate Mike Lamont
DG Rolf Heuer
Alternate
Nominated Director
Emergency services Gianni Deroma
Alternate Maurici Galofré Vila
Technical lead Freddy Bordry
Alternate Paul Collier
Health & Safety Ralf Trant
Alternate Enrico Cennini
Administration Connie Potter
Alternate Sevda Budun
Jeanette Schueler
Log keeping Dawn Hudson
Alternate Georgina Hobgen
Communications James Gillies
Alternate Corinne Pralavorio
Information Management Peter Sollander
Alternate Rende Steerenberg
Is this a crisis? Current situation Does the incident go beyond normal operation procedures?
Are there multiple incidents?
Is there a risk of the current situation getting significantly worse?
Resources Do we need external non-CERN assistance from host state
authorities/ other organisations?
Health & Safety Are there severe injuries or possible fatalities
Is there still a risk that the situation could evolve and endanger
people on or off the CERN site?
Environment Is the environment in or around CERN premises severely affected
by the incident?
Are there any possible regulatory breaches or implications?
Infrastructure & Operations Are any of CERN operations already severely affected?
Is there still a risk, which could severely affect CERN’s operations?
Reputation Are users, visitors, contractors or the public aware of the situation?
Could CERN’s reputation be at risk?
Notification & Activation
CCC or SCR assessment is yes this could be a crisis
Notify CMT Leader or alternate
CMT Leader decides (or not) to initiate crisis plan and
informs DG
CCC or SCR notify the rest of the CMT team
CMT meets at the CMC (within 1 hour)
CMT Leader
assigns roles on the CMT
with Technical lead decides which department leaders etc. are
needed
starts first CMT situation meeting
CMT Operation
1. Regular situation meetings (maximum 45 minutes)
Assessment of situation = what has happened, where, when etc. & what actions have been taken
Identify any immediate critical decisions/actions and implement
Identify issues arising from the incident and resulting actions
Stakeholders, people, environment, operations, premises/assets, reputation, future (what will we need to do tomorrow?)
Set priorities for actions, decisions
Determine a communication strategy
Logbook to record actions, decisions etc.
2. Update the Situation Report
What we know, what we have done, what we are doing
Identified issues, priorities & critical decisions to be made
3. Break for implementation (~1 hour)
4. Go back to 1 above
CMT situation meetings key outputs
Required Output
Situation
Awareness Full and comprehensive understanding of the situation
Issues Issues facing CERN arising from the situation identified
Actions Actions, timelines and responsibilities determined
People Injured, deceased and missing people accounted for
Priorities Strategic priorities for CERN in response to the
situation identified
Decisions Key strategic decisions made by the CMT
Record/Log All decisions and actions logged by log keeper
Critical Timings All critical timings for actions and decisions identified
Communications Communications strategy and plan developed
Questions Questions and requests for further information made
from those on the scene
EDMS 1316953
CERN Crisis Management – Situation Assessment Current situation
What has happened?
Where did it happen?
When did it happen?
Who was involved?
What response
actions have taken
place so far
Risks
Could the situation
get worse?
What are the biggest
received risks so far?
Questions/ Information required
What further
information do we
need to make
decisions?
EDMS 1316953
CERN Crisis Management - Issues and Actions
Time
added
Issue Action By
Whom
Time
completed
CMC (Crisis Management Centre)
Establish two dedicated centres from which to manage a Crisis Redundancy
Type of Crisis
Building 65 (Fire Brigade) and 874 (CCC)
Requirements Always available and ready to use
Emergency power
Phones, internet, video conference facilities
Projector, PC(s), Whiteboards,
Plans, documentation
…….
Plus a dedicated Communications room Media monitoring equipment , internet, TV’s etc…
PC’s, whiteboards, phones…
…..
CMC (Crisis Management Centre)
The first CMC in building 65 is
is prepared and equipped
CCC will be done this year
Crisis Communication Plan
Stand alone document and team
Work alongside the CMT
Developed by DG/CO
CERN Public statements
Information to staff, users etc..
Official communication with host states, member states…
Organization of interviews, press conferences
Briefing CERN spokesperson
Monitoring of media channels
Social media management & interaction
Crisis hotline
Exercises
Organised by an external consultant
Exercise = 1 day
2 exercises a few weeks apart train twice as many people
Using the same scenario
Tabletop, but with real time outside interactions
CMT and the Communications team
Scenario be prepared and run by consultants
With expert input from CERN
External observers for feedback after each exercise
Dates = October/November 2013
Scenario
A serious fire inside the CMS cavern
Potential radio-active and environmental implications
An Israeli delegation is visiting point 5 with TV crew &
journalists
Evacuation… 3 people not accounted for
Serious injuries, even one fatality
Intense media scrutiny
Journalists calls
Twitter, Facebook, …
Live TV news bulletins…
Felt very realistic…
Aims of the exercises
Rehearse team members
CMT and Communications team
2 exercises (same scenario)
Test and validate the implementation processes (for CMT &
the Crisis Communications team)
Notification & Implementation
Test CMT Operation
The “battle rhythm” process
Strategic decision making and CERN’s response to the incident
Management of media & communications (internal and external)
Do we have the correct interfaces in place for the CMT to
implement the response strategy?
Lessons learned from the exercises
Simple things
Not enough power plugs, too many phones…
Layout of the CMC
The initial callout procedure is too long
CMT Operation
Link between CMT and Communications team
Double check information before making an announcement
Don’t believe everything you hear!
Stay strategic!
Training needed for holding a press conference
Improve the situation report tools
How do we handle a CMT change-over (>12 hours)
How should we handle host state relations?
Other activities
Update CMT procedures, CMC facilities etc.
Additional training is needed Specialized crisis communications training
…..
Set-up a second CMC in 874 Rooms are emptied and reserved (thanks to BE/OP)
Implement the maintenance plan for the CMC equipment
Presence for major events Passport Big Bang Day in 2013
Open Days in 2013
60th Anniversary activities in 2014
Organize one exercise per year Test procedures = keep things up to date
Train the people….
And …..
….. be prepared