Crisis management is how you plan to deal with unexpected events that can impact your ability to run your business, such as natural disasters, loss of power or absence of key staff.

As your business is critical to your financial wellbeing, it’s important to plan for these events so you can respond and recover quickly. Good crisis management can make the difference between an extended and costly disruption to business and a quick resumption of operations.

An example of an unexpected event that impacted on the dairy industry was the state-wide power loss of 2016, meaning many farmers couldn’t run their milking operations. Another is the current drought which is causing feed shortages and extreme costs.

Crisis management planning falls into your business continuity planning and generally includes:

  • A detailed list of risks such as natural disasters, worker absences, terrorism, power loss, supply shortages, etc.
  • Actions to be taken if each of the unexpected events occurs.
  • A list of key staff, their contact details and their specific roles in relation to the plan.
  • A list of activating events that could trigger the plan such as a flood, fire, power outage and potential health incidents that could cause staff absence, e.g., the current flu situation.
  • Contact telephone numbers for staff suppliers, emergency services.
  • Details of where critical items are stored, such as first aid supplies, power back-up and key documents.
  • A list of potential food safety impacts and management arrangements.
  • A list of key documents such as insurance policies, supplier lists and financial records that need to be retrieved if the plan is activated.

For more information about crisis management, click here.