The chemicals sector tops Britain’s league table of industries at most risk to face a crisis in the next five years, followed by construction and aerospace, according to the findings of new docleaf research published at an international conference of corporate communicators in London on 27 June. The sector at least risk is oil and gas.

The research measures data collected during April 2007 by VAR International, an independent research organisation, from 100 publicly quoted British companies,

Read the full report here

China fights food contamination crisis

After tainted Chinese pet food ingredients killed and sickened thousands of dogs and cats in the United States, China faced growing international pressure to prove that its food exports were safe to eat.

The International Herald Tribute highlights how China is grappling with a food contamination credibility crisis- read the full article here:

The web hasn’t changed what journalists do – AP chief

Important reminder to all those engaged in crisis communications from Tom Curley, President & Chief Executive of Associated Press, the world’s largest news agency who told delegates at a recent conference in Korea:

“The Internet is bringing numerous changes to the media industry, but the fundamentals of news gathering remain the same.
"As we consider the digital future though, let's be very clear about one thing: Technology may change how journalists work, but it has never changed what journalists do.

"Speaking truth to power or acting as the watchdog of the powerful is one of journalism's enduring values.”
Read the full story here:

10 Ways to combat school violence

The National Parent Teachers Association of America has come up with this 10 point check list to prevent violence in schools:
1. Talk to Your Children
2. Set Clear Rules and Limits for Your Children
3. Know the Warning Signs
4. Don't Be Afraid to Parent; Know When to Interven
5. Stay Involved in Your Child's School
6. Join Your PTA or a Violence Prevention Coalition
7. Help to Organize a Community Violence Prevention Forum
8. Help Develop A School Violence Prevention and Response Plan.
9. Know How to Deal With the Media in a Crisis
10. Work to Influence Lawmakers

Read more here:

A pocketful of crisis

Usually if a chap tells you he has something of interest in his pocket, it is best to make a quick getaway. But when the gentleman in question is Jim Boyd, director of corporate affairs at transport operator Go-Ahead, you can relax.

Boyd, 42, carries the company’s crisis management booklet in his pocket at all times. The booklet is a detailed list of potential crises, ranging from minor derailments to major crashes or terrorist attacks, and the appropriate responses from the parent group and its operating companies.

There are five different levels, of which red is the most serious, and each response is incredibly detailed. ‘It is our way of identifying risk,’ explains Boyd. ‘There is a series of scenarios and details of how senior management should respond.

Read Boyd’s full interview in CorpComms magazine here:

How would you cope in a crisis?

Crisis management is a term that is usually applied to business but, in today's hectic world, it can be easily used to describe life in general. For some people, a life drama or crisis is rare, but others experience emergencies more frequently.

No one knows when or where they might be confronted with one of these traumatic episodes but, how one perceives and then copes with a crisis can help define individual characteristics.

Hollywood film star Shirley Maclaine has created a little questionnaire that will test your crisis management capabilities here:

Crisis Briefs

• An employee of Kwik Save, the supermarket group which closed 76 of its stores to save the company called the BBC to say: “We all knew the company was in a crisis because we had no bread, eggs, fruit and vegetables to sell…”
  
• Associated Press reported that A 44-year-old woman in New Zealand who needed an electric oxygen pump to breathe died after an energy company cut the power to her home because of a $122 unpaid bill. A spokesman for the state-owned company Mercury Energy said the company was devastated by the woman's death and was conducting an investigation to determine what happened