Heavy Duty Trucking, January 2021

When the COVID 19 pandemic hit fleets with emergency plans in place or full blown crisis management teams ready to swing into action had a distinct advantage over fleets that were simply reacting to events as they happened Even plans that didnt specifically address a pandemic were useful as a starting point We had some business continuity plans already developed and we pulled those out and reviewed those and really started tightening them up to ensure they cover issues such as COVID 19 says Gerry Mead executive vice president with the Hub Group an Illinois based transportation management company providing intermodal truck brokerage and logistics services We started doing a weekly meeting as an executive team understanding what communication was needed to ensure that we protect all of our employees from office driver and technician bases In mid March M W Logistics in Nashville Tennessee assembled a crisis response JANUARY 2021 HDT 29 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM If youve decided you need to develop a crisis management plan and team there are many business resources and consultants out there who specialize in helping companies do that But there are a number of actions you can take on your own to start the process First according to Ready a risk management resource website for businesses founded by the U S government Conduct a business impact analysis to identify time sensitive or critical business functions and processes and the resources that support them Identify document and implement ways to recover critical business functions and processes Organize a business continuity team and compile a business continuity plan to keep your business operating during a disruption Once youve identified the core elements that you wish to protect in an emergency you can move on to the nuts and bolts of putting your team together Risk Management suggests identifying a small group of senior executives designated as the organizations incident management team who will provide the oversight necessary in a crisis Although the companys CEO and when appropriate the board of directors ultimately have the final say the incident management team should be made up of a range of members of the organizations senior ranks And every team member should also have a backup Additionally identify a series of subject matter experts to advise the team Youll want maintenance and driver experts for example to suggest how to best deal with those employees in a crisis It is also important to institute a tested system for internally reporting a potential crisis to the designated crisis responders as well as a clear pathway for communications and direction from the team to be transmitted and implemented across the organization Both internal and external communications should be addressed Whos going to talk to reporters if they call about the impact of a cyberattack or how your company is keeping drivers safe during a hurricane Having a team in place is one thing Having a functioning and effective team in place is something else To make sure this is the case pressure test a crisis plan and protocols in a simulated emergency that tries to replicate the pace multiplicity of issues and potential landmines that require deft navigation and prompt decision making There are outside counselors who alone know the full parameters and extent of the exercise who can stage and run these drills The results can be illuminating and provide the foundation for briefings to management and ways to improve the companys preparedness Nothing is gained if your company doesnt learn and incorporate the lessons learned during a crisis whether simulated or real Thats why Risk Management encourages having an after action analysis and report done to gather information on both mistakes and successes during a crisis and making sure that information is used to drive the continuous improvement of your crisis management team and the plans they put in place TIPS FOR PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CRISIS You cant just develop a plan and call it a day A crisis is always evolving changing and growing Jaime Maus Werner Enterprisesteam and put detailed step by step plans together for each department and each scenario and got those documented and distributed says Safety Manager Chris Woody This crisis task force he says is made up of decision makers and department heads What we wanted to do was have whatever came out of that task force meeting to be immediately implemented by those departments The first thing they addressed was what to do if an employee had symptoms or was diagnosed with COVID 19 And then we imagined all the scenarios within those departments It took a while We met every single day for a long time each day but we knew it was important U S Xpress is another large national carrier that has determined a crisis management team is a must have in todays volatile world While the fleet had a preliminary crisis team in place at the beginning of 2020 COVID 19 prompted the Tennessee based carriers top executives to expand its size scope and authority As a leadership team we had been talking about developing a dedicated crisis team for some time says Amanda Thompson PHOTO GETTYIMAGES COM GROVEB