When an ordinary work day turns deadly

Following the latest gun massacre in a Nebraska department store, the implications and consequences for the HR manager of the store involved are huge, despite there being no motive relating to the store. Bereavement, trauma, fear and depression are just a few of the issues that the HR team have to tackle.

Read Julie Ferguson's article on some of the challenges faced here.

Airline's true crisis is loss of reputation, warn public relations experts

Big companies trade on their reputation and integrity. When these fail, business invariably suffers. This article highlights the woes of South African airline Nationwide, and looks at how it failed to address these central issues during a recent crisis. Read the Business Report story here:

How Blogging works, and how it can affect you

Long after the mainstream media have forgotten about a crisis and moved on to fresher prey, an organisation might suffer prolonged exposure to online discussion via the blogging community. This article highlights just how long recent cruise incidents have stayed in the sights of bloggers.

To read Crisisblogger's entry, click here:

Laissez faire and ‘spin’ do not have a place in crisis management

When an organisation faces a crisis, how much of the response should focus on reputation damage control? What is the balance between concern for the victims and for the financials? Tomothy Coombs, author of Ongoing Crisis Communications, answers these and many more questions in this fascinating interview.

Read the article from The Hindu here:

Crisis Briefs

A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees.

Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town.

"I was dumfounded. I thought I was dreaming," the husband told the newspaper on Wednesday. The couple, married for 14 years, are now divorcing, the newspaper reported. (Reuters)

And finally... Greeks fed up with their pesky neighbours, old flames, the government, or society in general can find release in a new Internet site that posts e-curses for free.

"Have you been dumped, harassed or angered? Why not unload with a curse?" offers www.e-katares.com (e-curse.com), which currently has more than 150 entries. Most postings on the site are from jilted lovers but there are also contributions aimed at Greek taxi drivers -- a favourite target -- banks, the public sector and even Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. "May his next pasta meal give him salmonella poisoning," one user rants against the premier, whose love of food is a popular barb among opposition media.

In Athens, locals usually relieve stress through a variety of offensive hand gestures, most frequently whilst caught in one of the capital's trademark traffic jams. "Studies by (EU statistics service) Eurostat show that Greeks have gone from being positive and relaxed to having the worst stress in Europe ... over job uncertainty and the collapse of traditional social structures," sociology professor George Piperopoulos told the daily Ethnos, which publicised the site Saturday. (AFP Athens)