Building a Crisis Communication Strategy: Effective Communication During Emergencies

Written by: James Hart

During a crisis, good communication can save lives. That’s especially true for larger office buildings. 

Some properties hold thousands of people during a typical workday. If there’s a fire, an active shooter or some other emergency, the building staff and security must be able to quickly alert everyone and tell them what they should do next. 

A crisis communication plan speeds up that process and ensures tenants and their guests receive the information they need to stay safe, said Christian Kalinski, senior director of security at Chesley Brown, the security consulting and management firm. 

“You have to let people know that something’s happening, whether that’s with a fire alarm going off or making an announcement over a PA system or some other way,” he said. 

Kalinski is part of the team that serves one of the tallest office buildings in the Pittsburgh skyline. In that role, he helped develop a crisis communication plan that can be put into action at any time. 

In this post, you’ll learn about some of the proven best practices that he recommends to property managers for office buildings and complexes.

What is a crisis communication plan? 

It’s a blueprint for how a business will communicate with employees, clients, business partners and other stakeholders during an unexpected, potentially dangerous incident.

Potential scenarios could include major storms, toxic spills or other threats. For some companies, a crisis also might be a product recall or a cyberattack.

When an event like that happens, it can put tremendous pressure on a business. With a crisis communication plan, though, they won’t have to struggle to remember everything that needs to be done. All they have to do is follow the plan. 

A crisis communication plan can stand on its own or be part of a larger business continuity plan. Most plans will cover: 

• Who will be responsible for delivering messages about the incident.
• What they should say. This will change depending on the nature of the incident. Many organizations will prepare messaging templates for threats such as fires or severe weather. 
• How they will deliver those messages. The plan should incorporate multiple ways to reach audiences, such as the building’s PA system, email and text alerts.
• Where the communicators will gather. It’s a good idea to designate a command center where decision-makers can coordinate the response together. 

Some crises will attract the attention of the news media, depending on the property and its tenants. Typically, the property management team will handle those inquiries. Some outsource this responsibility to a public relations firm. 

Another important audience is the first responders in your area. It’s a great idea to reach out before a crisis happens and invite them to “familiarity tours” so their personnel can learn where your building’s entrances, stairwells, elevators, evacuation routes and other key features are located. 

You also could create “go boxes” that contain critical information for firefighters and police who respond to your emergency, such as maps of every floor, keys and access cards and other assets that would be useful during an emergency.

Creating a crisis communication plan for an office building

The security team normally takes the lead in drafting the crisis communication plan, in close consultation with property management. 

Include input from all stakeholders, such as building staff and tenants. These other parties will have information that could be extremely helpful during an emergency. For example, one of your tenants might frequently host hundreds of visitors in their space. In an emergency, they would need extra help evacuating those people. 

“There are always challenges and curveballs that are going to come at you,” Kalinski said. “The more people you get involved in the planning process, the more you can head off some of those things.”

Communicating during a crisis

Kalinski breaks down crisis communication into three stages: the initial alert, mid-incident updates and post-crisis follow-up. 

Initial alert 

A good communication plan will utilize multiple methods for warning tenants and other people in the building. In addition to the PA system and the alarms, a property might use email or text messages to reach people. Handheld radios can help team members communicate with each other, no matter where they are. 

Kalinski and his team can quickly add a short note to their building’s website and record a message for people who call the property’s main number. The office tower even has its own app. It’s usually employed for promoting events, booking meeting rooms and sharing other information, but it can also push out emergency alerts. 

After all, if someone is working at their desk with headphones on, they won’t always hear the PA system. But they might notice an incoming email.  

“I think the more of those you have, the better off you are,” Kalinski said. “Because not everybody’s going to download the app. Not everybody signs up for text alerts.”

Assign one person to each communication channel, he added. It limits the risk of something being overlooked and ensures that messages are sent swiftly.

“Our command center operator is going to be monitoring the radio and dispatching people,” Kalinski said. “We’ll have a member of management doing the PA announcements. Somebody else in property management will usually send out the text or email blast, because usually, they have the quickest access.”

Mid-incident updates

Let tenants know if there are any new developments — for example, if the police have been called or if the fire department has arrived. Or if the incident turned out to be nothing after all. 

Some teams forget to make these updates, but they’re very important. Your tenants know something is happening, and if they don’t hear anything else from you, it can create a sense of unease or even panic.  

“It’s like when you make a phone call and you get put on hold,” Kalinski said. “Sometimes you’re left wondering, ‘Have I been forgotten about?’”

Communicating proactively can prevent misunderstandings. 

For example, one tenant might start saying the alarm system didn’t work because it didn’t sound in their part of the office complex. In reality, the system is working perfectly. Security didn’t alert everyone because the incident was minor and resolved quickly, and there was no reason to warn people who wouldn’t be affected. 

A quick email from security or property management could ensure everyone knows the truth. 

“We have to get in front of that and let them know why those things happen in certain situations,” Kalinski said.

Post-incident followup

After it’s all over, tell tenants what happened. 

“We always do an after-action report to find out the highs and lows of the incident and see what we can improve on,” Kalinski said. “As part of that, I’m always getting emails and phone calls from people in the building. ‘What happened?’”

If possible, share the basic narrative of what happened. It will mean a lot to the people you serve if they know the facts. We had a fire alarm. It was on this floor. This is what caused it. Here’s what we did. 

“We’re here to be partners and protect the people in the facility,” Kalinski said. “And I think sharing the facts just goes a long way toward instilling some goodwill. We’re being transparent about what happened and what we did and why we did it.”

Review and update the plan regularly 

Kalinski updates his client’s crisis communication plan at least every six months, around the twice-yearly fire drills the property holds. 

Perhaps a construction project has affected the normal evacuation routes. Or maybe the property management office has a new way to contact tenants. Those details should be reflected in the plan. 

The crisis communication plan should incorporate lessons from recent incidents. That’s why Kalinski and his team always do after-action reports. They can identify problems and needs, and then address them in the plan.  

What can happen if you don’t have a crisis communication plan? 

The consequences can be serious for properties that don’t create a crisis communication plan. When tenants don’t have the facts, many will try to fill in the gaps on their own.  

“They’re going to start running their own script of what’s happening,” Kalinski said. 

Case in point: If tenants start smelling smoke — but don’t hear any alarms and don’t receive any updates from the building — they won’t know what they should do. Some might start to evacuate while others stay put. 

That’s what happened during an incident earlier in Kalinski’s career. The building’s PA system malfunctioned, so security couldn’t tell tenants what was happening. As a result, some people got scared. It even led to a fistfight in one of the building’s stairwells. 

As it turned out, a trash can had caught fire and was extinguished quickly. It wasn’t a major threat.

But the tenants didn’t know that. 

“Something so small like that can get so out of hand,” Kalinski said. “Because there’s no communication, people’s imaginations and fears will take over. They’ll panic and make the situation worse.”

Remember to follow the plan

If the property manager, the security director and other leaders are supposed to be in the command center, they should stay there so they can gather information and make good decisions. 

“Don’t try to be the hero and do everything,” Kalinski said. “Just do what you’re supposed to do.”

All the department heads don’t need to go directly to the scene of the incident. Their teams can and should handle direct response. 

“Stick to your job and trust that your people are doing their jobs as well,” Kalinski said.

Need expert advice on crisis communication planning?

Chesley Brown provides security to multiple office towers and complexes across the country, as well as shopping centers, entertainment districts, churches and other types of properties. In addition to day-to-day security services, the firm offers world-class expertise in several specialties, including disaster preparedness. To learn more, contact us today.