Dec. 8, 2006 was a notably difficult and sad day for many in commercial real estate. In Chicago’s Citigroup Center, a gunman shot and killed three employees in a law office, before being shot and killed by a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) sniper. Meanwhile, tragedy hit closer to home when a transformer exploded in the 17-story One Broadway building in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, pushing black smoke through the stairwells. By the time the fire was extinguished, tragic news had been confirmed: One of the NStar workers who had been servicing the transformer had died. In addition, about 100 of the 800 people evacuated were treated for smoke inhalation.
In the wake of the tragedies, commercial property owners and managers are taking a hard look at their emergency response and crisis communications plans and gauging objectively how well-prepared they are to respond to any kind of incident. The fact is, while the exact circumstances may vary, the types of crises – workplace violence, a hostage situation, bomb threats, fires, building failures, flooding and other natural disasters – can all be anticipated and prepared for. Surely, what happened in Cambridge and Chicago highlights the tremendous responsibility that comes with ensuring the safety of every building, employee, tenant and visitor. Dedicated planning and clear communication, combined with proper training of building staff and tenants, go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.
The conventional outlook has been that while emergency preparedness programs are always necessary, they were nevertheless a cost that needed to be managed carefully. But property owners and managers should strive to attain a level of emergency preparedness that rises above the standard. By taking the time and, yes, some expense, to develop emergency response and crisis communications plans that go beyond the mandated local law, commercial property owners and managers will arm themselves with the best tools to mitigate injury and liability and lower the corresponding cost of risk and media fallout.
Writing the Book
A more engaged and thorough safety and security model begins with preparing a manual on how to respond to foreseeable events. While certain protocols can be shared across a portfolio, try to treat each property separately, with its individual challenges and potential vulnerabilities. For instance, buildings that sit above train stations need to consider how train accidents or bomb threats in a subway station would impact their own operations. The plan should account for knowing every stairwell and floor of the building – including crossover floors, entrances and exits – to ensure that building staff are thoroughly trained to use fire and other emergency systems.
But planning has limited effectiveness without frequent and consistent communications with tenants and employees to educate them about what preparations are in place and encourage them to be part of the process. Methods to involve tenants include implementing fire-safety week and Web-based training programs that explain the emergency systems in an easily understandable way, and scheduling discussions for tenants with emergency management experts. Be sure to test multiple communications channels to ensure the rapid dissemination of accurate information during the workday, after-hours and on weekends. For instance, if a building is shut down indefinitely, how will management communicate with tenants to keep them updated? The crisis communications plan should include template messages and media statements for every scenario, so that management already has considered what to tell tenants before a fire breaks out or a suspicious package is discovered. Commit the plan to paper and have legal counsel and risk management review it.
Preparedness Through Practice
Even the best-written emergency response and crisis communications plan is just a three-ring binder gathering dust on a bookshelf if building staff are not properly trained and procedures tested. Regardless of how many fire drills and practice evacuations are scheduled, tenants will always rely on building managers and staff to guide them through a real emergency. Building employees should be included in regularly convened tabletop exercises, in which property managers assemble a representative group – which would also include engineers, security and janitorial teams – to run through each departments’ responses to specific hypothetical incidents. Receptionists in the management office and security guards in the lobby are often the first points of contact for the media and tenants, so make sure to include them in these exercises. Simulations provide a chance to identify any glitches and ensure that everyone understands their specific roles and duties in a high-pressure situation.
Regular and frequent training is particularly important when considering the impact that turnover might have, both in property management and in the tenant base. For example, most local jurisdictions have varying recommendations for how often to test the public address system – ranging from once every three months to once per year – but these standards may be insufficient if building staff and tenants change frequently. Moving beyond the standard, the PA system should be tested for audibility on a monthly basis, with six to 10 concisely prepared announcements that are practiced by different management employees, because any of them may be pressed into action in an emergency.
A Team Effort
In addition to comprehensive plans and training, every building should have its own crisis response team (CRT), because the moment when a crisis hits is not the time to decide who calls the shots, how to respond and who is the public face of the company. The CRT should be defined well in advance, with assigned roles, and should be in charge of scheduling the tabletop exercises and amending the emergency response plan with lessons learned from the exercises.
The CRT will also be responsible for executing the crisis communications plan. With the Cambridge tragedy came a deluge of media coverage. How a property responds to such external scrutiny during and after an incident can have lasting ramifications on its brand image and bottom line for years to come. In short, the CRT must always be on-call: Consider what happens if a phone rings and goes unanswered, or is answered by the wrong person, on a weekend or during off-hours – a news story will be written with incomplete or possibly inaccurate information.
All emergency response and crisis communications plans are dramatically enhanced by establishing good relationships with first responders, such as police, fire and city and state public health departments. These agencies will be an important information source for the media, but they can also help building owners and managers plan ahead for smoother crisis response. Take their advice and plan coordinated efforts with them, and establish means for reaching each other day and night. Invite them proactively to visit facilities, so that they are familiar with the properties before responding to an emergency, and even encourage them to train their cadets at the building, working in tandem with management staff.
Unfortunately, nobody can undo crises that hit commercial real estate in 2006, but owners and managers can and should strive to take their emergency response planning to the next level so they are prepared for whatever may come in 2007. With branding, human and liability stakes so high and the benefits of sound emergency response so clear, the time for thorough crisis planning is always now.
