A crisis is a crucial time, which involves an unstable situation and requires an impending change. Crisis management is the process an organization follows when dealing with a volatile situation that threatens to harm the stakeholders, the public or the organization itself. Every organization should have a crisis management plan in place to protect its employees, customers, visitors, assets, and the facility. When preparing a crisis management plan, one needs to forecast any potential crisis and plan how to deal with it (Jaques, 2007). A crisis can be man-made or natural. Man-made crisis includes accidents, vandalism, fire, strikes, defective equipment and violence among others. Natural issues include earthquakes, weather, and communicable diseases. This plan covers events that may lead to loss of property, personnel injury, and overall facility damage.

Dalton, Walton, & Carlton, Inc., which is an architecture firm, have around 250 employees. The company has invested heavily in IT infrastructure but still has a few issues with their security. This calls for a crisis management plan to manage any issues that may arise. Recently, two employees left the firm and were employed by a competitor. In addition, some PCs and office equipment have been stolen out of the office. It is obvious that PCs stores data and such data can be a major cause of a big crisis. There are different ways in which such PCs in the firm can be damaged or lost. These include vandalism, employee’s theft or robbery.

When the firm employs a new employee, it is necessary to make a record of all the assets assigned to the said employee. The employee should sign a thorough and complete document with details regarding receipt and responsibility of such assets. Besides, all employees should sign a document to indicate that they clearly understand the firm’s policy about loss or damage of property issued to them (Downs, 2015). Again, it is important for the employees to understand that the assets handled to them are returned when one is dismissed, retiring or resigning. With all these documents in place, it is easy to track all assets assigned to employees. When an employee is exiting the firm for any reason, an exit interview is to be done. This will involve verifying the assets and cross-referencing with the signed documents. The importance of this is not only to protect the assets but also to learn about any issues, grievances or problems that may lead to a future loss (Downs, 2015).

To protect against vandalism and theft, the physical security of the firm’s facility is critical. For the firm, the front entrances automatically open in the morning and lock in the evening. Access to the different offices inside the building can only be accessed using a key card. However, visitors are not escorted when inside the offices. If possible, it would be significant to escort visitors to the office they are visiting. This will ensure that they do not tamper with anything inside the facility. A critical area in the facility is the server room (Jaques, 2007). This holds all the data of the organization. Any damage or loss of such data will lead to a crisis. The server room should be accessible only to the information technology employees and should be opened with a special key card. Again, a backup of all data is to be done at an undisclosed location outside the facility. Besides, more cameras will be installed inside and outside the facility.

Maintaining a perimeter security is the first line of defense (Fennelly, 2013). The camera feeds will be stored as part of the organization’s data. Besides, it would be good to install sensors that trigger an alarm when anyone tries to tamper with substantial assets or equipment in the facility. This will enable quick response to any impending damage. Again, in Dalton, Walton, & Carlton, Inc., vendors are not supervised when accessing firms’ website and computers. Such vendors can be used by competitors to access and steal firm’s data. No one who is not an employee of the firm should access any equipment without supervision. All computers will be password controlled to avoid unauthorized access.

The fact that Dalton, Walton, & Carlton, Inc., is an architecture firm means the offices are visited by different personnel. Personnel accessing the offices include employees, customers, and visitors. It is important to ensure that all personnel in the organization’s facility at any particular time are safe. With such huge number of people in the office, incidences such as workplace violence, terrorism, fire, and natural disasters can occur. The major forms of workplace violence are workplace homicide and assault. Workplace homicide is the deliberate killing of an employee by any other person. First, the firm needs to draft a zero-tolerance policy towards violence in the workplace. The policy will cover the employees, customers, visitors, and anyone else encountering the firm’s personnel (U.S. Department of Labor). In addition, a prevention program for workplace violence will be put in place and be fully implemented. Such a program together with administrative controls, engineering controls, and training will significantly reduce workplace violence incidences. all employees will be made to understand that any reported cases of workplace violence will be investigated and appropriate actions taken.

Any crisis management plan should also cover the unforeseen natural disasters. With such, it is important to install protective measures to ensure the safety of employees in times of such disasters. First, an emergency evacuation plan will be in place. The plan should cover the evacuation of all personnel in the facility at the time. It is thus important to document all visitors in the facility in the customer care desk (U.S. Department of Labor). In addition, there will be a disaster assembly point outside the facility. This will help in identifying who is not been evacuated from the facility. It is advisable for the organization to conduct tests on the evacuation plan from time to time to identify areas that need improvements. The test can involve intentionally triggering the fire alarm.

Crisis management is an essential aspect of the firm. The firm will form a crisis management department whose mandate is to coordinate all activities in times of crisis. In times of any danger, a lot of confusion occurs and if efficient coordination is not available, loss of life is possible considering the high number of employees. The department will handle drafting and implementing all preventive programs and countermeasures. The department will also handle all workplace related violence. In addition, the department will also liaise with the law enforcement agencies in sharing any impending information pertaining to the public insecurity (U.S. Department of Labor). However, some matters will be internally handled to prevent the public from having an adverse perception about our organization. It is necessary for the organization not to disregard the physical security of the facility as a whole. The security of the facility’s perimeter is the first line of defense.

References

Downs, S. (2015, July 28). Exit Interviews: How to Prevent Loss and Track Your Assets. Security magazine. Retrieved from http://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/86544-exit-interviews-how-to-prevent-loss-and-track-your-assets

Fennelly, L. (2013). Effective physical security (4th ed.). Waltham, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann

Jaques, T. (2007). Issue management and crisis management: An integrated, non-linear, relational construct. Public Relations Review, 33(2), 147-157.

U.S. Department of Labor. Safety and Health Topics | Workplace Violence. (n.d.). Retrieved August 11, 2015, from https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence/

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