Written by Phil on December 15, 2012 in Crisis Management and Crisis Communication, Emergency Response, Emotional Continuity, Promo, Special Offers.
No no no no no no no. Things like this are supposed to happen somewhere else. Not in my backyard.
As I sit in my office flipping the remote between the local and national news channel, with five browser windows open watching real-time updates, this time it’s Sandy Hook, Connecticut – not Columbine, not Virginia Tech, not someplace far away.
My best friends live down the street from that elementary school (they’re okay). It’s barely a ten-minute drive from my house. “Second worst school shooting in American history.” “Worse than Columbine.”
As I write this on a Friday afternoon, I hear on the TV news that close to 30 people died, including 18 children. I can’t say I should be surprised if or when I learn that I know somebody who was affected, but of course I will be.
What happened this morning is beyond horrendous. Innocent children and adults slaughtered.
Strange thoughts, totally inappropriate, pop up. Will it hurt property values? Amazing how the human brain works sometimes, probably some kind of an internal protective mechanism. I’ll go with that.
Less strange thoughts: what could I do about this? What should I be doing right now? If I knew any of the families affected maybe I could support them, but I’m guessing right now they’re overwhelmed with immediate support and, besides, no names have been released; later on, when the urgency has subsided and I know who they are, then I will offer anything I can.
Take a breath. Realize that 30+ years of my career has been about dealing with stuff that happens which nobody wants to have happen. I get paid for dealing with and preventing ugly stuff for businesses, but the underlying process has a lot in common. Reboot back into professional mode.
What I’ve observed so far from various sources is that the school, police and emergency services appear to have been prepared, had plans and procedures tested and in place, and (at least from what was apparent via the news venues) appeared to have performed as well as they could given the circumstances.
This is important: planning, preparation, exercise, coordination are vital. We may not know for a while – if ever – how many more souls would have been lost if those precautions were less effective – or, conversely, how many lives might have been saved if those precautions were better.
Whether your domain consists of a school, hospital, military base, supermarket, office building, nursing home, apartment building, mall, corporation, small business, family home, or wherever; whether you’re in a position of responsibility, a tenant, customer, student, employee, CEO, parent, or chance visitor; whether you want it to or not; sometimes, really really bad things happen. And, when they do, planning, preparation, situational awareness, testing, and all that other stuff we don’t think about or don’t make time for could make all the difference in the world.
Whether the context is school or campus safety, emergency building evacuation, business continuity, disaster recovery, terrorism, pandemic planning, or whatever little or big scary monsters under the bed you need to worry about, my advise is simple. Start with the basics – threats, vulnerabilities and common-sense contingencies. Think about ways to mitigate the worst risks. If you don’t have at least reasonable contingency plans in place, just look at today’s headlines. Then, check out those monsters under your bed.
I offer my heartfelt condolences to the families and the people of Newtown, Connecticut.
Tags: Newtown, Sandy Hook, school shooting
