After a crisis: restoring community relations.

What does it take to manage a crisis effectively and repair community relations afterward? Lots of resources. Positive, corrective action. Plenty of communication. And time. Here are examples of lessons learned during and after the crisis occurred at Rhone-Poulenc's sulfuric acid regeneration facility in Martinez, Calif. in June 1992.

THE ACCIDENT --

While preparing to make repairs, two experienced maintenance workers accidentally opened a valve at the base of a storage tank containing "spent" sulfuric acid. (Spent acid is sulfuric acid that has been used to make gasoline and then returned to the regeneration facility for recycling into pure sulfuric acid.)

Both workers were doused with the acid as it gushed out and were severely burned. One of the workers, with burns over 90 percent of his body, died two weeks after the June 22 accident. The other eventually recovered.

Shortly after the accident, hydrocarbons in the spent acid ignited. That fire was put out fairly quickly but the material would subsequently re-ignite in two huge blazes during the day, shutting down a major freeway and providing San Francisco television stations with some spectacular footage. Fortunately, the wind carried most of the smoke over the water and away from most of the residential areas.

The community reaction

For four long years, the company had been in a battle with the community over a permit to use the plant's sulfuric acid regenerating furnace to incinerate hazardous waste.

After the spill, the mayor of Martinez called a public meeting. Officials demanded to know: How did the accident happen? What chemicals were in the smoke and how could they affect people's health? Is the facility safe? Will the permit application be withdrawn?

The company also faced a barrage of concern from residents. They came up to the microphone, one after another, to vent their frustrations, opinions and their fears.

'We're very sorry ...'

Representing the company at the meeting were staff members from the plant and headquarters and the company's vice president in charge of the sulfuric acid regeneration business. As the senior company official, he probably helped defuse some of the anger by opening his remarks with an apology and a promise. He said that the company was very sorry for the accident and he promised to conduct a thorough investigation into the cause and not restart production until the results were made public.

LESSON 1

Don't spare resources when something serious happens. Get the right people to the scene as soon as possible. Form a crisis team and give it the authority to take the necessary steps to bring the situation under control. And empower the leader to apologize or admit a mistake, if one indeed did occur.

The public meeting was the first of numerous meetings that would be held with public officials at the city, county, state and federal level.

Filling the information void

The company's first press release was issued the morning after the accident at a press conference at the plant. (The media had received the majority of the information during the fire from the emergency responders who had assumed control at the scene. Television and radio stations had been broadcasting "live" reports since shortly after the first fire started.)

The company committed to holding a briefing each morning and issuing a daily statement. The briefings lasted most of the first week. They were discontinued after the initial flurry of media interest subsided. Daily press statements were prepared and faxed to all San Francisco area media as well as to the offices of the local, state and federal representatives and the regulatory agencies.

LESSON 2

Communicate. A prominent reporter once said to a group of chemical company executives, "Whenever there's a sudden and serious accident, there's an information void. You can fill it or I can get my information from someone else. Which would you prefer?"

On the day after the accident, officials from the governmental agencies began to investigate. Some were there to determine the cause of the accident, others to supervise the clean-up. In addition, about 50 local activists appeared at the plant gate with banners and bullhorns calling for the withdrawal of the incinerator permit application.

LESSON 3

Get lawyers involved from the outset. Make them part of the crisis management team, let them supervise the relationships with the regulatory and legal authorities, and review all the public statements. But don't hide behind them. Let management be the spokespeople -- not the attorneys.

'Don't touch anything'

Two days after the accident, investigators and an assistant district attorney from the Contra Costa County district attorney's office appeared at the plant.

Apparently in response to political pressure, they were there to conduct a criminal investigation into the accident -- despite the fact that investigators from both the state and the federal Occupation Safety and Health Administrations (OSHAs) were already on the scene. Eventually, the criminal investigation was dropped. But not before it would cause a great deal of concern on the part of the people at the plant, eat up much time and money, and make an already complicated investigation more difficult and acrimonious.

LESSON 4

Crises beget crises. In handling the original crisis, try to anticipate what else could happen. Recognize the tremendous stress that your people are under and, as you work to relieve, also re-examine and reinforce your safety procedures.

Ongoing communication

For almost a month, daily media updates were the primary means of communicating to external organizations -- the media as well as elected officials and the regulatory agencies.

In addition to the daily written statement and responses to any media inquiries, the company endeavored to re-establish a relationship with local officials by arranging regular -- in most cases weekly -- meetings with them.

Keeping employees informed

The Martinez plant had 60 employees. Since the plant's capacity to regenerate sulfuric acid was knocked out by the accident and would be out of operation for months, most of the employees had to assume new duties. To keep them motivated, the company sought to keep them informed. Daily meetings were encouraged to be two-way conversations with the manager and his staff listening and trying to respond to the employees' questions and concerns. Immediately after the accident, the company made available through its employee assistance program outside counselors who met with employees and helped them cope with the tragedy.

LESSON 5

Keep employees informed and involved. While there is continuous pressure to direct your communication efforts outward -- toward officials and the media -- employees need to know what's happening: to their colleagues, to their jobs and what the company's plans are. Don't let them "read about it in the paper."

The division's human resources representative took over responsibilities of liaison with the injured employees and their families. He was at the hospital daily and helped to expedite answers to critical questions concerning everything from health insurance to paychecks. He also kept the company informed of the condition of the injured employees and was their advocate for any action that needed to be taken.

LESSON 6

In the case of serious injuries or fatalities, assign someone with compassion and in a position of authority to work with and attend to the myriad needs of the victims and their families.

Crisis team manages the crisis

To manage a crisis, a team was assembled that consisted of management and key members from the manufacturing, safety, health, environmental and communication staff and lawyers. This crisis team was led by the head of the business unit.

The crisis team met each night to review the day's activities, discuss what was planned for the next day and iron out any difficulties internally or externally. These sessions were the key to applying the right resources, solving problems and making coherent statements to the employees as well as to the public. The meetings were also an opportunity to release some pressure by allowing members to vent their frustrations and resolve any conflicts.

LESSON 7

By definition, a crisis is a situation that is out of control. To regain control requires sound decision making and corrective action. Keep the best people with the right skills focused on the crisis. Relieve them of other duties. Allow them to communicate openly and honestly with each other and coordinate activities.

Changing the relationship

The primary means of making the company more sensitive to the feelings and the needs of the public was the community advisory panel (CAP). But the CAP wasn't an easy pill to swallow, and the cure wouldn't happen over night. The company had to settle for a panel that it felt was far from objective and was heavily loaded with former adversaries. Panel members had to accept that as long as the possibility of criminal charges hung over employees' heads and the OSHA investigations were still going on, the company was constrained in what it could say about the accident.

LESSON 8

Form a representative advisory panel consisting of community members and the company. Accord it and the individuals that comprise it the respect they deserve. Let it be the forum for listening and the opportunity for participation in the search for solutions.

As much as the company's new openness and forthrightness helped, what really began to change the climate was the announcement, two months after the accident, that it would withdraw its application for the hazardous waste incinerator permit. By burying this bone of contention, the two sides could put aside the past and start to focus on the future.

In addition to withdrawing the application, the company also reached an agreement with the city of Martinez to settle any legal claims that the city or its businesses might have had against the company resulting from the accident.

LESSON 9

While the accident precipitated the acute crisis, the relationship with the community was a chronic crisis that needed to be addressed. Listen to what people are saying and try to hear their concerns -- and do what you can to address them.

New facility, new attitude

Also helping to turn things around was tangible evidence that the company was committed to doing things differently in the future. It made some staff changes. And it made changes to the plant. Prior to re-starting the facility and after most of the major repairs had been made, the CAP members were taken on a second tour of the plant. They could see the new equipment and hear the enthusiasm of the employees. Some employees were bursting with pride as they demonstrated a new control room and spoke of the back-up features it included, the training they'd participated in and the procedures they had helped write.

The company had to set a new course, and this time the community was going along on the journey.

Martinez Community Relations/1994

TWO YEARS LATER

What are things like two years after the tragic accident at Martinez? Here's what some of the key participants had to say:

Jim Jakel -- city manager, city of Martinez:

"Looking back, the accident and the lengthy, embittered battle over the permit seem so distant now, almost surreal. There has been remarkable progress made in the relationship between the city and the company. It's a much more open relationship. The new management at the plant wants to be more involved in the community, wants to be a corporate citizen. To give you an example of just how far things have progressed, I recently found myself working on the same side of an issue with one of the company's outside attorneys, the one who led the permit effort for Rhone-Poulenc. This could never have happened several years ago."

Ralph Sattler -- A Martinez resident, a leader of Communities for a Safe Environment and a member of the community advisory panel:

"There's definitely been an improvement in the relationship between the company and the community. And i think it has been accomplished by the change in personnel. The plant manager is willing to share information voluntarily. For example, there were two minor accidents at the plant recently and we found out about them and discussed them at the monthly CAP meeting. I think there's a continuing role for the advisory panel, and not as a social event, but a forum for information exchange and communication with the public."

Myron Galuskin -- vice president for Sulfuric Acid and Environmental Services, Rhone-Poulenc Basic Chemicals Division:

"The best input on how things have changed has to come from the community and our customers. The latter are still affected since not all the plant's production capacity is operational. With regard to the community, I do think we've made great strides in building a relationship based on trust and confidence. But it's something we know we continually have to work on. In addition, our employees have developed a real sense of pride and accomplishment. They've become pace-setters for the company."

Arthur C. Benedict was director of corporate communications at Rhone-Poulenc at the time of the Martinez accident. He recently left Rhone-Poulenc to form Critical Issues Communications, a communication and community relations consulting firm in Erdenheim, Pa.