SM014_English: Emergency Communications: Principles and Practices

When an emergent threat is identified, and when a crisis situation is ongoing, or incident has happened, the ability to communicate quickly and accurately with the right people is fundamentally important. All of the following are reliant on it: mobilizing people, plans and resources to advanced states of readiness so that, if the situation deteriorates individuals and organizations are on the front foot, and able to react swiftly; activating help and directing it to people and places in need; sharing information to internal and external stakeholders who may be affected; accurately accounting for the location and status of people; and ensuring command and control over incident response and management in what may be fast-paced, highly stressful conditions. Emergency communications must be carefully planned and resourced. Failure to do this will put people in danger, and expose organizations to reputational harm, charges of liability and negligence, and put facilities, assets and operatio