Shoreline Cruises Disaster Shows Why Little Businesses Need Crisis Communication Plans

Crossposted from my post on the MarcomBlog.

The good ship Ethan Allen rolled over the other day on Lake George, drowning 21 people. This is when crisis communication comes into play. Where, if you are smart, you listen to your lawyers, listen to your heart and head, and start communicating. Actively.

When Alaska Airlines lost a plane a few years ago (1998-99, if I remember right), they had a new homepage up within 40 minutes of the pilot declaring an emergency. That page stated, bluntly, that one of their planes was missing, and presumably crashed. It had phone numbers to hotlines. Constant updates. A passenger list. Maps. Links to the FAA and the Coast Guard (the plane crashed in the Pacific). It had a press inquiries section, with contact information to the airline, and links to breaking news being published about the crash.

They updated it constantly in the first days. About a week after, they moved it away from the front page, but kept it going, and linked to it from the front page. And when investigators decided that Alaska's own mechanic was at fault? They reported that, without spin.

Superb crisis communication.

Superb, because they had thought it through in advance. They'd asked themselves "What if we lose a plane? How do we react?" Part of their response to those questions was to create a "plane crash" page in advance. A phantom page to be filled in and uploaded if the unthinkable happened.

Which it did.

Let's compare that response to that of Shoreline Cruises, owner of the Ethan Allen. You'll search in vain for any mention of the disaster (Update: their website is now mentions the event. In their note, they ask the public to refer inquiries to the NTSB and other "authorities"... without providing any clue as how to do that). Indeed, there's still a page for the Ethan Allen (Update: still not taken down). Moreover, as I search Google News, I can find no response from the operators -- but plenty of "it was impossible to contact Shoreline for a statement".

You may be thinking "Well, it's a Mom-and-Pop business, they didn't need a crisis communication plan." Except they do need one, now, right?

Every company needs a crisis communication plan. Call it insurance. You don't expect the plant to burn down, but it might. You don't expect someone to be killed on the job, but people die on the job every day. Your CEO probably won't be hit by a bus today, but busses hit people every day. Your repairmen never drive the van too fast through a school zone....

PR students who don't get internships... look around. Family or friends with a small business? Do a pro bono crisis communication plan, with a mentor's help if necessary. Valuable training for you. A little more insurance for them.

Hat tip to Sara.

Posted by Allan Jenkins on October 4, 2005 at 01:15 PM in Communication, Corporate Management, Current Affairs, Public Relations | Permalink

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» Crisis communication: we all need a plan, Stan! from Lee's new Better Communication Results blog
My main man Jenkins has, as always, got it SO right! ... [Read More]

Tracked on Oct 4, 2005 2:18:53 PM

» Even Small Businesses Need Crisis Plans from On Message from Wagner Communications
I can't say it any better than Allan Jenkins has here ... ... except to add that if your small business is involved with the public and something risky -- like boat excursions, bus trips, horseback riding, etc. -- the need is multiplied many times o... [Read More]

Tracked on Oct 4, 2005 4:34:50 PM

Comments

The owner of the cruise company which runs the Ethan Allen said right after the tragedy that "Shoreline will not change the way it conducts tours because of the accident." How is that for communications error?
http://tcattorney.typepad.com/wrongfuldeath/ethan_allen_tour_boat_ferry_accident_in_new_york/index.html

Posted by: Ethan Allen Investigation | Oct 4, 2005 7:04:09 PM

Readers: the above comment comes from a personal-injury law firm in Traverse City, Michigan.

I weighed deleting it -- generally, I won't allow comments from "organizations", preferring instead to hear from real people. While the comment borders coment spam, and the related website is obviously self-serving, the law firm's blog does point to local links and news that the major news organizations don't mention.

For now, I am leaving it up.

Posted by: Allan Jenkins | Oct 5, 2005 10:43:57 AM

Allan:

Thanks for your comment to my comment and your email. One of the reasons I became a lawyer is because of the impact I can have on safety. The chances of me ending up with any clients as a result of my blogging are pretty close to zero. However, my chance at affecting the investigation, people’s views about safety and providing a memorial to those who died (let’s not forget) are achievable. This morning I awake hoping that this nonsense about how the coast guard is now to blame for having outdated capacity limits passes quickly. The Ethan Allen had decades of use on Lake George as a tour boat. Either it had prior issues with stability or there is another explanation that we have yet to discover. The comment by the prior captain that 50 passengers were too many is the most interesting thing to come out of this thus far. It is up to the owner/operator to know their own vessel and not simply to load it to its coast guard limit because that increases their revenue.

I appreciate you comments about commenting under my own name. I am always torn on that one - notice my firm does not have my name in it either (very unusual for a law firm). Lawyers treat law as an ego sport. I took my wife’s last name in matrimony (I hate doing anything simply because that is the way it has always been done). I am hopeful that the power of ideas someday becomes more important than the person speaking them. However, I realize that your comment puts this important issue on the table as well. Thus, I am going to send you this message by email and also submit it as a post to your blog. You can decide if it is comment worthy or not.

Your blog is a good one indeed. Thanks for posting about the Ethan Allen tragedy. When people needlessly die, we need to improve how we do things so that it doesn’t happen again. Unfortunately, our society is currently bent on denial and passing the blame, rather than stepping up and taking responsibility. People who run others down with their car in the cross walk on a winter day want to blame it on the snow. Let’s not blame this one on the waves or the coast guard. Every Captain must know their boat’s own limits.

Enrico Schaefer
Traverse Legal, PLC
www.traverselegal.com

Posted by: Enrico Schaefer | Oct 5, 2005 1:16:16 PM

Thanks for checking in, Enrico. I'd say always go for the personal comment.

Keep the heat on the Shoreliners.

Posted by: Allan Jenkins | Oct 5, 2005 10:24:27 PM

This also reminds me why companies - small ones too - must take control of their web presence. I've heard so many times from managers of small companies about how hard it is to maintain the website, how you have to contact a webmaster who may even be someone not in the company etc.
In the event of a crisis you have to be in control of your communication.
A small company is often challenged by not having the ressources to deal with this, but it is not that hard to take control of a website, if the right infrastructure is in place.
+1 for blogs on company sites. At least that will provide the company with a personal voice, and management with a way to communicate instantly.

Posted by: Gunnar Langemark | Oct 6, 2005 9:05:22 AM

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