November 2001, Mining Association of Canada (MAC)
When a mining company experiences a major accident or incident, everyone in the industry is affected. News of the accident is broadcast around the world, prompting the public to question the practices and safety of the industry.
Prior to the development of the Towards Sustainable Mining initiative by the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) in 2000, research was conducted with both internal industry leaders and external stakeholders. Both shared a concern that people’s judgement of the mining industry was negatively influenced by incidents such as tailings dam breaks, fires, explosions and mine accidents that resulted in harm to people and the environment.
Significantly, however, while the external stakeholders were concerned about the potential of accidents and incidents, they also expressed a grave concern about how the mining industry communicated during and after a crisis of this kind. From their perspective, the industry must do all it can to prevent accidents, but, despite best planning and practices, if an incident does occur, the industry must improve its communication effectiveness and responsiveness. They reminded the industry that their performance was, and would continue to be, judged by the worst performer. This finding spurred the MAC Towards Sustainable Mining Task Force to take action. A crisis management team was formed to study best practices in the industry and make recommendations on how to proceed.
This reference guide has been designed to assist companies in developing or improving their plans for responding to, and communicating during, a crisis. It is a planning guide and deals with communications issues, not operational issues, and reflects best practices drawn from the mining as well as other industries. This information can be used to develop or assess plans and customize the information to reflect companies' corporate culture. Part One is a review of the key components of a corporate crisis management plan. Part Two is a sample of a corporate crisis management plan. It shows how a plan may look and what it may contain. It is not intended as a substitute for any company's plan, but to serve as a guide to help in developing or assessing companies' plans.
