Mbale District Council: Crisis Communication Plan - Example

Title: Instructor: Institution: Module: Date: Crisis management Mbale district council: Crisis communication plan Introduction Mbale district council is in need of continued provision of food services to the poor communities in the district. The district has been facing problems due to communication crisis in the organization. The management has decided to come up with a crisis communication plan that will help reduce failure of the organization not being able to deliver its services at the right time. The organization has requested for crisis communication plan that can be used to achieve the objectives. The management of the council to achieve the targeted aims can use the following plan. A crisis is any situation that threatens the reputation of a company (Barton 1992). It may be caused by the adverse of negative media attention. A crisis can be in the form of legal dispute, theft, accident, fire, flood or even any other manmade disaster that can be attributed to the organization. It can also be the problem with the media or the general public. Mbale district council food safety service crisis communication plan Aims and objectives Service aim The aim of Mbale district council’s food safety service is to ensure that manufacture food, prepared or sold within the District meets all the food safety standards and is safe for consumption. Our objectives and policy statement Mbale district council in the food safety service has the objective of maintaining a programme of food hygiene inspections in accordance with the food law code of practice in England and the associated practice Guidance. We are also targeting to implement one high profile food safety campaign. We will also support the local businesses in the implementation of new food safety requirements concerning risk analysis. New priorities for Mbale district council food safety service plan. The council will take the following priorities in practice for the purpose of promoting economic, environmental and social well being of the community. These priorities include Jobs and Enterprise, Safe and strong, Clean and green, Efficient and Effective. The council’s food safety service is going to contribute to the priorities by providing advice and guidance to the local businesses. They will do this at costs that are effective to the business people in order to comply with the food, health and safety legislation. This will also ensure the provision of safe and enough food within Mbale district. Staff notification procedure Communication to the staff The crisis communication team has the responsibility of communicating with the staff on the issues that are concerned with the council. The communication team should provide the facts to the staff of the situation of the crisis and extend to which it is progressing. They should hold press conferences for the purpose of addressing the staff. This team is responsible for keeping well the reputation of the company. The regulatory team is highly dedicated at tackling the enforcement of food safety issues within the district. These officers are responsible for giving information to the staff concerning infectious diseases that can be caused by eating unsafe food. They provide massage on special treatment licenses, water supply and health & Safety. The officers will inform the staff of the existing food safety risk. Here, they will be notified of food complaints and food borne illness affecting the people in the district. Investigations on infectious diseases will also be done to establish the people affected. Food sampling will be done to provide advice and information on the response to be taken on food hazard warnings. Policy statement Mbale district council has recognized the value of having a standard policy on food safety enforcement including prosecution. This makes it easy to be consistent and fair during enforcement of the Food Safety Act 1990 and Regulations mentioned under. The council should decide on adopting and approving a new and revised Enforcement policy. The document is also subjected for review in association with other Authorities through related food liaison group networks in order to uphold uniformity of enforcement across the area. The Environmental Health Service is required to carry out their duties according to the principles of the national Concordat of Good Enforcement. They will carry out their functions in an equitable, practical and efficient manner. This will promote the survival of the local economy and secure a safe and health environment for the people and visitors. The council will achieve the stated aim through a service delivery approach that will help businesses in meeting their legal duties with no unnecessary expense. The council should take hard action inclusive of prosecution appropriately on the people who act irresponsibly. The crisis communication team This will include the individuals who are the key to the situation. The crisis communication team in the council will involve the CEO, the vice president, the senior manager from Mbale district, the security officer, news bureau manager, the web master, secretary and the council lawyer. They are required to come up with the measures that are to be taken when dealing with food safety services in the district. Stakeholder analysis The people from the district are likely to be affected by diseases like infectious diseases and other health hazards that may occur due to unsafe food. These people need clean water supply and health and safety food services from the council. The council officers through an inspection program will achieve this through inspection of food and premises. The people have presented food complaints and the presence of food borne illness. There is need for the council to deploy the services of a council officer who will deal with the food safety and infectious disease matters. The risk profile in the last years shows that there has been an increase in the food related cases of illness. There is also a gradual reduction in the proportion of high-risk premises. The premises are usually approved under specific product regulations. The variety include large canning Manufacturer, Large scale manufacturer of convenience foods, Large-medium scale meat products plants, large Cook chill food manufacturer, Large scale vegetable preparation/freezing manufacturer, Large scale sandwich manufacture, large Bakery, Dairy Products, Ice cream manufacturer and Fish Product. Prioritization Emergency contact list Henry (1996) provides a list which can be used to prioritize an emergency contact list. It is as follows; Gathering the facts Selecting a council spokesman Selecting a council secretary Identifying the audiences to be addressed Developing the message to be passed to the people and media Anticipating for tough questions from the audience Identifying the medium to be used Communicating the message and facts Activating the crisis web home page Activating the crisis hotline number Providing guidance to the public Controlling the message Controlling the flow of information Responding to the media quickly and fairly Dispelling the rumours Having a plan to assist the affected people Meeting with the city state officials where necessary Key messages and sample press release Service Delivery Food and Feeding-stuffs Premises Inspections There will be inspections that will be done on Food and Feeding-stuffs Premises to reduce the risk profile in the district. The inspection frequencies need to comply with the new food law code of practice in England. There will be programme for the food inspections. These inspections will be carried out based on the procedures adopted by the council on the food safety inspections. The inspections will be able to highlight the areas that need to be revisited by the council. This information is described in the following table Food premises risk category Minimum inspection frequency Minimum no. Of inspections needed for 2008/9 Proposed inspection programme for 2008/2009 Category A At least every 6 months 14 14 Category B At least every year 83 83 Category C At least every 18 months 285 285 Category D At least every two years 85 85 Category E At least every 3 years 70 70 Vertical product premises 10 10 Totals Total 547 Total 547 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Officers on Food Safety Inspections Officer FTE Environmental health officers 0.6 Technical officers 0.5 Consultant EHO 0.12 ENV. Health Managers 0.05 Food and Feeding-stuffs Complaints The food safety service will be under the control of the environmental health service. This service will provide support for the food safety complaints in relation to food. There is a 51% increase in the number of complaint received for 2008/2009 compared to the years before in 2006/2007. The reason for this is the increase in awareness of the public on food safety matters and improved recording of complaints. 300 hours are required for office time by the officers. Food Related Diseases Mbale District Council is dedicated to play an active function in the national administration of food safety incidents and taking the necessary actions quickly and properly to the food hazard warnings that are received. The Food Law Code of Practice in England and the associated Practice Guidance gives advice to the food authorities on the action to be taken in the case of a potential problem occurs. The Council will be committed to follow guidance from the Government concerning all food hazard warnings and emergency control orders. It will also take into consideration its own adopted policies for food safety incidents. In the year 2007/2008 there were 57 food hazard warnings, this number had reduced from the previous cases in the sense that in the 200/2007 there were a total of 89 cases and in 2005/2006 75 cases were reported. There is a requirement that the council commits itself for more that 300 hours of the officer time to deal with these cases. Advice to Businesses The environmental health services will take the responsibility of maintaining education to the council on matters of legislation on the food safety enforcement. They will provide advice during their routine inspections to the new and prospective businesses. The officers may be faced with the problem of having limited time to give advice as well as limited resources that inhibit the officers from giving advice. The best target here will be providing the advice at a particular time outside the inspection programme. The council will use consultant services when carrying of inspections with high risk. In addition, the council can carry the inspections at lower risk food premises with the use of consultation to help increase the time required for giving advice. Below is a list of workshops that will run in the last six months Timetable for the workshops Workshop 8 24th April 2009 Catering Workshop 714th March 2009 Retail Workshop 6 8th February 2009 Catering Workshop 5 5th January 2009 Catering Workshop 4 27th December 2008 Catering Workshop 3 12th November 2008 Retail Workshop 2 16th October 2008 Catering Workshop 1 30th September 2008 Catering News conference protocol The media has communicated to us that there has been an increase occurrence of food illness in Mbale district in the recent. It addresses that the situation is still under investigation and more information will be released very soon. There has been more that 30% of the population affected by the existing crisis. The reason is that the residents in the District are facing infectious diseases due to eating unsafe food. The media has addressed that the following changes should be done for the effective operation of the council in the implementation of the service. There should be regular contacts with DoH, DEFRA, MAFF, FSA, LACORs concerning food safety issues when they arise. The media also commented on license applications to Legal and Estates Services. The council also added that there is need of businesses to apply for planning services to the planning services department. The council should go into relationship with other public bodies when giving the services the people. The council should also initiate an education program that will enable the achievement of the set objectives. They should also request for food safety advice form consultants. Control and Investigation of Outbreaks of Food Related Infectious Disease Mbale district council is highly committed to the carrying out of thorough investigations of food poisoning and food borne infectious disease outbreaks. The notifications will be given sufficient investigation to highlight the linked cases with the necessary actions that can be taken to prevent food poisoning and infectious diseases. The council will work together with government and local authorities to meet the requirements of national guidance and the district control plan. Mbale District Council will be committed to work together with other organizations to ensure that consistent, effectiveness and the best value services that meet the needs of our customers are achieved in the district. Interview protocols Ray (1999) argued that, the crisis communication team is responsible for determining the places where interviews are to be undertaken. They should always be available to answer the media in case of any notification. The council crisis communication team will not change any rules agreed upon with the media. This will ensure that the officers are accountable for their job. We are ready to travel with the media in the places we will be offering our services every time. The crisis communication team will address any advice required by the media. Record keeping protocols The council is expected to always have ready prepared statements. This will enable them to be able to communicate immediately with the media in case they need any updates form the council. The officers will be able to control events by having prepared statements through out. Mbale council safety service has several records based on financial allocation, staff allocation and staff development plan. Financial allocation Employees £102,000 Transport £9,500 Supplies £1,100 Central Support £24,355 Income - Net Expenditure £136,955 Staffing Allocation The allocation of staff is based on qualifications and registration requirements as per the code of practice 13. The number of full time equivalent employees is 1.0 at Environmental health officer level and 2.0 at the Technical officer level. Staff Development Plan Interviews are usually conducted on yearly basis for staff development. This will enable the council to identify the training and development needs of the staff. The training needs will be ascertained and linked to the council objectives. Reviews will be undertaken before and after training and development of staff. This will enable us to establish the expectations and outcomes of these activities. Crisis communications review and evaluation procedures After reviewing the progress of the performance of the council work, we have come to realize that some of the objectives were not met by the plan. Ray (1999, p.55), addressed some of the procedures for reviewing a crisis communication plan they can be used to review the targets. The provision of service by the council was highly targeted to carry out a programme of inspection of food and food premises. This would ensure that safe food and compliance with the law is achieved. The council should take comparison of the previous inspections and the current inspections. Here inspections were not done to the expected and the objective was not maximized to the fullest. Methods of evaluating the response As advocated by Barton (1992), there are several methods for evaluating the response of a crisis. Some of them are discussed below. Viewing and reading media coverage The council will take into consideration having access to the media to evaluate the safety service operation in the district. They will watch news that come from the media concerning the food safety in the district. They will also read newspapers on the coverage of the crisis. The issues that were addressed by the media will help the council in setting their strategies in future. The council may use debriefing meetings with the staff The communications team will be take their time after the end of the crisis in order to evaluate any action that was taken to curb the crisis. They will also be able to evaluate if the crisis communication plan was followed as expected. Through this the council; will be able to learn from the successes and the mistakes that were made during the activities. They will be able to set their strategies better next time they are dealing with a crisis of the same nature Testing the plan The council will take precautions to test the plan annually if it is working and it is up to date. References Barton, L 1992, Crisis in Organizations: Managing and Communicating in the Heat of Crisis. Henry, RA 1996, You'd Better Have a Hose if you want to put out the Fire: The Complete Guide to Crisis and Risk Communications. Ray, SJ 1999, Strategic communication in crisis management, pp.48-60 Read More