Snohomish Co. PUD Crisis Communication Plan

Mitzi J Bennett-BulmanNovember 2015

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Table of Contents

About the Utility………………………………………………………………pg 3

Why a Crisis Communication Plan….…………………………………………pg 9

Crisis Communication Policy………………………………………………….pg 11

Crisis Communication High-Level Check-list…………………………………pg 12

During a Crisis.………………………………………………………………..pg 14

Detailed Crisis Communication Plan…………………………………………..pg 17

AppendicesAppendix A Pre-planning for a Crisis ………………………………….pg 20

Appendix B Media Contacts, Messages and Checklists.……………..…pg 21

Appendix C Initial Statements…………………………………………pg 25

Appendix D Pre-authorizations and Agreements………………………pg 27

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Appendix E Event and Media Review Logs……………………………pg 29

Appendix F After-Action Review……………………………………...pg 31

About the Utility

Stats, Mission and Values:Located in Everett, Washington, Snohomish County PUD is a municipal

corporation of the state of Washington, formed by a majority vote of

the people for the purpose of providing electric and/or water utility

service. There are 27 other PUDs in Washington, but we are the

largest. Snohomish County PUD is the second largest publicly owned

utility in the Pacific Northwest and the 12th largest in the nation in

terms of customers served. The average number of employees is

approximately 1,000, which work amongst a Corporate Headquarters,

an Operations Center, a Water Department, a hydro dam (Jackson

Hydro Project), and seven local offices.

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SnoPUD’s service territory spans 2,200 square miles, including all of

Snohomish County and Camano Island, with 6,339 linear miles of

electric utility lines; and over 375 miles of water pipe. Electric

customer counts are made up of 302,000 residential, 30,500

commercial, 76 industrial and 300 lighting customers. The largest

commercial accounts include Boeing and the Everett Naval Station.

Mission Statement, Goals & Values

We will make a difference in our customers' lives by safely providing

quality products and services in a cost-effective and environmentally

sound manner.

Our Goals To value and use teamwork to create effective partnerships inside

and outside the organization. To serve the needs of our internal and external customers with

respect, sensitivity, skill and knowledge. To diversify and manage our power and water supplies to control

cost, minimize risk and increase reliability. To reward employee creativity and hard work, and provide the

tools and training necessary for a safe and productive work force. To be innovative in all that we do to meet customer needs in a

changing market. To be sensitive to the natural environment in our planning,

construction and operations. To achieve a diverse and flexible workforce.

Our Values We believe in providing reliable, cost-effective and responsive

service to our customers and welcome their input.

We value the community we serve and the local control of our utility.

We value finding common ground and welcome opportunities to work together both internally and externally.

We are stewards of critical community resources – electricity and water – and we take this responsibility seriously.

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We are committed to the health of our environment and take actions consistent with that commitment including purchasing renewable power, working to reduce our carbon footprint and ongoing promotion of conservation in our community. 

We value our employees and their dedication to hard work. We encourage individual and team innovation.

We believe a safe work environment benefits employees and our community

Potential Threats to the UtilityIn the utility business we have several types of threats that can impact our stakeholders.

STORMS: The most common and very expensive. We work a lot with FEMA to quantify the damages from these events. Wind and ice are particularly damaging. When people are out of power for weeks at a time, it's horrible for them and for the utility. Our crews, and exchange crews are tired, worn to nothing, working in the cold and ice and wind. People don't understand that bringing up the grid must happen in a particular order -- it's a communicator's nightmare.

FIRE: Fire in wooded areas is very damaging to the lines. Not to mention fire among our facilities and buildings.

VOLCANOES: We live with the volcanoes -- what if St. Helens blows? The ash is heavy enough to pull our lines down! And the crews are incapacitated due to breathing in the ash.

EARTHQUAKES: We drill for these constantly and have stores of food and tents ready for an event that takes down our operations and forces people to shelter in place (the parking lot).

EXTREME MARKET PRICES: A utility has to balance its flow of electricity down to the kW -- demand must equal supply at all times or the grid will destabilize. If the entire West Coast is short on power (fires take out major feeders, extreme temps, water shortages), prices can go up 1000 fold. This is a threat that carries to our customers because their rates will increase if we're paying $1000/MWh as opposed to $50/MWh.

ENVIRONMENTAL: transformers contain oil which may contain PCBs, which are heavily regulated. If a transformer spills oil on

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property and someone is exposed, there are issues. We have a new large battery to back up our grid -- there are chemicals in the batteries that if disrupted could endanger a community.

WATER ISSUES; We have about 15 reservoirs and it only takes one incident to corrupt months’ worth of water supply.

TSUNAMI: We live on the coast, and these must be planned for.

DAMS: We have several dams and if they fail, we could endanger many communities. One of them has a school nearby and so the entire community practices evacuation and getting to  higher ground.

ELECTROCUTIONS: this happens more frequently than you'd believe. Construction crews are the worst and it's easy to get electrocuted when a boom touches a line above -- the person is fine until they exit the vehicle. Then they are grounded. Electric lines fall on metal fences and someone can be electrocuted in the backyard if leaning on the fence when a line drops in the front yard.

REPUTATION RISKs: Improper contracting, not following state or federal rules. We have a whistleblower case going on right now that has drug our leadership through the mud (in my perspective for no reason). This has landed all of us on the front page and it's not been pretty.

CUSTOMER INFORMATION CYBER BREACHES: We have to protect customer data.

REGULATORY INADEQUACY: FERC, NERC, Reliability rules, etc., can  come with up to one million per day violation penalties! All you have to do is not log one tiny event and wham, you appear to be out of sync with reliability standards.

EMPLOYEE TREATMENT ISSUES: one wrong treatment of an employee can and will lead to a sensationalistic headline. Almost guaranteed!

CYBER THREATS: we get hundreds of attacks (in and out of country) every month -- people trying to see if they can infiltrate the grid and shut it down.

PHYSICAL GRID DAMAGE: A guy with a chainsaw can do as much (or more) damage than the cyber threat scenario above.

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Utility StakeholdersCrisis Communication Team:

Corporate Communications Officer Press Officer (External) Press Officer (Internal) Social Network Liaison Web Page Administrator (Internal and External) Community Liaison External Emergency Response Liaison Utility Media Liaison of Partner Utilities External Crisis Communications and Media Response

Advisor(s)

Emergency Response Teams

Executive Response Team: o Physical and Cyber Security o Facilities and Fleet Mgrs o Storm Crews Chiefs o Corporate Communications Officer o General Manager o IT Mgrs o Finance o Risk Management & Response o Safety Mgr o Environmental Mgr

Utility Response Teams o Command Post Managers o Command Center Managers o Leadership Team

Media

TV Stations (local and national) Radio Stations Web-based Newspaper Magazine Social Media Channels

Enforcement/First Responder Community

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County Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Police within each Snohomish County City Enhanced 911 Fire Departments Snohomish County Search & Rescue

Emergency Management

Federal Emergency Management Administration  (FEMA) Health District Snohomish County Dept. of Emergency Management

Outreach Contacts

Industry Partners

Seattle City Light Puget Sound Energy Northwest Public Power Association (NWPPA) Contract Crews Washington State PUD Association (WPUDA) Local Water Utilities Washington State Utility Commission Western Washington Public Electric Utilities IBEW (Electric Workers Union)

Governmental Contacts

Snohomish County Administration Mayors of all Snohomish County Cities Human & Health Services Washington State Department of Transportation State Governor

 Customers Electric Water

Staff Employees – Current count 1,085 employees Families of our employees Retirees Commissioners (3 Board members)

Environmental Response Contacts

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Environmental Test Labs (water and PCBs) Avian Response Water Response Clean-up Oil Spill Response Clean-up

External Crisis Counselor Advisors Contacts Grief Counselor Outside Legal Counsel

Banks or Funding Sources Contacts Storm Restoration Crew Cash Emergency Supplies and Pay

Community Group Contacts Neighborhood Associations County School District Contacts Tribal Groups Church-based Organizations Secular Organizations

Supplier Contacts Utility (poles, transformers, oil) Transportation Generators Hardware Supplies Work Clothing (boots, fire-proof gear, etc.) Food and Beverages  

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Why a Crisis Communication Plan?Purpose of the plan

A crisis communication plan is a subset of a larger Crisis Management Plan. It is intended to help communication staff navigate through a real crisis event.

The plan will:

Facilitate pre-planning activities to identify pre-authorized threats, messages and agreements with other entities.

Give staff a unified approach to handling communications in a crisis.

Enhance SnoPUD’s public image through effectively handling of a crisis event and effectively manage customer’s expectations through difficult times.

Strategically plan for the distribution of critical, sensitive information to the media, customers and all stakeholders.

To give easy to follow checklists to make crisis communication simpler in the heat of the event.

To facilitate how and when greater regional crisis communication response will take precedence over SnoPUD’s individual response.

Using the Plan in a Crisis Situation

The plan is written so that the initial chapters will cover what to do in an actual event. The appendices are supporting material and in the back of the plan.

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It is the duty of the Chief Information Officer or Sr. Mgr. Corporate Communications to assign portions of the plan to the appropriate staff. The same applies to making decisions on when and how to bring in additional support staff if SnoPUD’s corporate communications staff is caught short due to the crisis.

The first sections of the plan give relevant information about SnoPUD from which media the foundational sections of crisis messages can be compilated.

One of the most important parts of the plan is included in the Appendices and covers pre-authorized messages and opening statements; as well as other possible decision points to initialize a response office, staff and resources.

It is very important the key points in the front of the plan be clean and not change frequently – this creates a familiarization with the plan as people review it from quarter to quarter. The information in the front is mostly static and will be reiterated regularly in order to instill the key concepts in communicator’s and manager’s minds. Making the plan part of the corporate culture will make sure it is not a book on the shelf, but rather a living, breathing document. It will only succeeds if it’s updated and inculcated into the minds of those involved.

So, for reaffirming key concepts and for efficient plan maintenance purposes, information that changes frequently (i.e., quarterly updates) is located in the appendices. This facilitates easy updates to the plan and keeps the ever-changing information containable – as opposed to searching throughout the entire document.

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Crisis Communications Policy

Report crisis immediately to General Manager, Leadership Team and Commissioners

There is an appointed and authorized Crisis Communication lead who will direct communication efforts.

o All communication efforts must be authorized by this lead

There is an appointed internal and external spokesperson (may be one in the same)

o All media responses and key messages go through this spokesperson

o All management, workers, and responders will refrain from making public statements and shall direct questions to the appointed spokesperson

Employee and customer information will be kept confidential and no names will be given to the media without permission from the families and the Crisis Communication Lead

Any event that garners media attention is an opportunity to build trust with media, customers and employees

Corporate communicators and applicable managers are accountable for committing the key concepts of this plan into their working memory. They are also responsible for reviewing the plan quarterly and making appropriate data updates.

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The Corporate Communication team is responsible for key concepts of the plan and making sure the resultant changes are made part of the corporate culture; that managers are trained and know the plan fully.

Crisis Communication High-Level Check-list

Corporate Communication team meets at its designated checkpoint

Assignments are made for the following: o Communication Director for the event o Messaging lead to write and arrange approval for all

internal and external messages o Media or External Spokesperson (Day and Night Shifts) o External Social Media Updates o Internal Media updates and Spokesperson (also updates

Leadership Team and Commissioners) o Record Keeper to track events, communique times,

corrections, etc.

Determine if crisis is part of greater community efforts and coordinate with other communication teams.

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Gather information of event, causes, outcomes and any potential cascading events.

Assess situation and ensure safety of team

Develop communication plan and key points to address all possible points of inquiry, to include:

o Calls to Customer Service call center o On the scene in-person inquiries o Calls to Commissioners o Calls to Leadership Team

Staff working in response to crisis (line workers, environmental crew, safety and facility teams)

Notify General Manager and Leadership Team and Commissioners

Develop initial informational messages to inform stakeholder groups. Messages should:

o State the facts of the incident o Tell stakeholders how you plan to update them and on

what schedule o Express empathy to all involved o Include references on your intent to help stakeholders

through the crisis o Share how the company intends to remedy the situation

(once approved by crisis team) o Be updated on a regular basis as new information is

confirmed o Be based on what the media already know of the situation o Correct any inaccurate information previously released o Include backgrounder information, fact sheets, FAQs and

links to web resources o Align with other involved organizations to ensure

consistency of messaging o Be taken from pre-scripted approved messages*

 *See Appendix C “Initial Statements,” which contains information on creating pre-crisis responses based on several high-risk crisis incidents.

           

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During the CrisisLocation of Central Communication Response Team

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Determine extent of crisis and whether it will be handled on-site or in conjunction with a regional Joint Operations Center (JOC) and Joint Information Center (JIC). See table below.

Emergency Level

Examples of Level 1, 2 or 3 Emergencies

Order of Spokespeople

Spokesperson (s)

Communication Response Center

Level 3

National or Regional disaster results in disaster declaration of officials

Primary General Manager

Meet at the Joint Information Center (JIC)*

Sustained widespread outages where we cannot serve customers

Secondary General CounselMeet at the Joint Information Center (JIC)*r

Severe destruction of data, telecommunications or electrical infrastructure

Tertiary Sr. Mgr. of Corp Communications

Meet at the Regional, County or City-Level JIC**

Significant damage to the District's dam

Meet at the Regional, County or City-Level JIC**

Level 2

Major storm or event that results in outages for a majority of customers

Primary Sr. Mgr. Corp Communications

Meet at the District's Emergency Operations Center (EOC)***

Fire at headquarters or Operations buildings that result in no access

SecondaryMedia Representative #1

Meet at the District's Emergency Operations Center (EOC)***

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Loss of ability to perform critical business functions Tertiary General

Manager

Meet at Snohomish County Emergency Mgmt *

Level 1

Unscheduled power outage Primary Sr. Mgr. Corp

Communications

Meet at the Corporate Communications Office ****

Operational or business interruption Secondary

Media Representative #1

Meet at the Corporate Communications Office ****

*Snohomish County Emergency Management Office at Paine Field in Mukilteo

Enterprise application failure Tertiary

Media Representative #2

Meet at the District's Emergency Ops Center (EOC)***

**Snohomish County Everett EOC at the Everett Courthouse with secondary at County Fire District Offices in Everett (see Appendix X for addresses)***District’s Emergency Operations Center at the Electric Building Commission Room in Everett and secondary is at the Operations Center in Mukilteo (see Appendix X for addresses)****District Corporate Communications Office at Everett Electric Building (2nd floor) and secondary is the District’s Emergency Operations Center in Mukilteo (see Appendix X for addresses).

As per a regional event that requires a joint crisis management, a dedicated emergency gathering area will be designated for communications staff, staffing and resources are as follows:

 

JIC Staffing (to be assigned at onset of event by the overall crisis command lead)

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Assignment of Duties

Info GatheringInfo

DisseminationOperations

Support LiaisonsResponse Partnering Rapid Response

Facility Support Field PIO

Media Monitoring & Analysis

Rapid Briefing and Special Events

Media Reception Greeters

Strategy and Messaging Media Phones

Special Needs and Multilingual

Community Relations

Research and Writing Status Board

Administration

Audio-Visual/IT Web Support

Resources needed for all Emergency Centers JIC resource needs and provisions are pre-established on site

and the responsibility of the Snohomish County Emergency Management staff.

Regional, County or City-wide will be organized by the City of Everett emergency department staff and they are responsible for staff organization and provisions.

District Emergency Management for Snohomish Co PUD is set up in the Commission Room at the Electric Building. Provisions are provided in the EOC dedicated closet and include: radios, rosters, computers,  employee information, telephones, televisions, food ration packs for 100 people for 3 days, matts, blankets and pillows, Crisis Management and Succession Planning documents, flip-charts, office supplies, first-aid kits and search-and-rescue supplies (safety helmets with lights, portable bracing and leverage devices, etc.).   

District Emergency Operations Center at the Operations Center is located in a mobile portable trailer and is equipped with the same supplies as listed above for the Electric Building EOC.

The Corporate Communications office, either at the Electric or the Operations Building is pre-established with Crisis Communication binders, radios, supplies.

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Detailed Crisis Communication PlanDuring the actual crisis, make sure the following points are considered, logged, followed as closely as possible. Refer to the list frequently to make sure there are no holes in coverage.

o Pre-crisis planning checklists (see Appendix A)

o Safety – when the event occurred, is your staff safe and is the

location secured

o Notify Management – the following people must be notified in the

appropriate order:

Order Contact Position Phone #1 Phone #2

1 Kathleen Vaughn Commission - Pres 425-783-5555 425-555-55552 Dave Aldrich Commission - VP 425-783-5556 425-555-55563 Toni Olson Commission - Sec'y 425-783-5557 425-555-55574 Craig Collar General Manager 425-783-5558 425-555-55585 Chris Heimgartner AGM 425-783-5559 425-555-5559

o Crisis Communication Team – Gather the following members:

Order Contact Position Phone #1 Phone #2

1 Julee Cunningham Chief Info Officer 425-783-5555 425-555-5555

2 Neil Neroutsos Media Rep #1 425-783-5556 425-555-5556

3 Krysta Rassmussen Social Media #1 425-783-5557 425-555-5557

4 Brian Neufield Internal Comm 425-783-5558 425-555-5558

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o Call in pre-authorized resources and mutual aid if necessary (see

Appendix D)

o Determine hierarchy of message approvals:

Order Contact Position

1 Neil Neroutsos Media Rep #12 Julee Cunningham Chief Info Officer3 Chris Heimgartner AGM4 Anne Spangler General Counsel5 Craig Collar General Manager

o Assess the extent of the crisis –

o Assess the situation

What happened? Who is involved with the incident? Why did it happen? When did it happen? Where did it happen? Determine who on Corp Comm team is in charge Which Corp Comm staff members need to be called in? What initial steps should be taken to respond What is already known by the public What type of risk to the company is there? When will more information be available? What prescribed messages can be used? Are they pre-

approved? What privacy policies might prevent some information

from being reported? Who will be the assigned spokesperson for the event? What legal implications are involved? Does Legal

representation need to be present? Which stakeholders will be contacted and in what

order? Who will begin to notify appropriate management and

Corp Comm staff? What media release strategy will be used?

o Develop key messages based on the event (See Appendix C for pre-scripted and pre-approved messages)

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o Stakeholder notification – determine which groups need to be

notified and assign to staff

o Assign a record keeper and backup person and assemble work

station

o Assign someone to track media output (and how they are

interpreting your messages)

o Continually update communication to all media and stakeholders

o Assign someone to follow-up on all media calls and requests for

more information

o Post-crisis activities – See Appendix F

Appendices 

Appendix A Pre-planning for a Crisis

Appendix B Media Messages and Checklists

Appendix C Initial Statements

Appendix D Pre-authorizations and Agreements

Appendix E Event Log

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Appendix F After-Action Review

       

Appendix A: Planning for a CrisisCrisis Communication – Preparing Messages before the Crisis

Occurs

  The General Manager and Leadership Team shall determine a

list of most common and highest risk crisis situations that could happen to the utility.

Messages will be prepared by a group of internal stakeholders and led by the Director of Corporate Communications, internal and external spokespersons.

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Prepared messages will be approved in writing by the General Manager, Leadership Team and Director of Corporate Communication.

Full media releases for a sub-set of events will be written by the Corporate Communications team and pre-approved by management – to include pre-scripted quotes from officials.

Commission and General Manager will review the messages to make sure they align with the utility’s public policy directives.

All prepared statements, releases, and quotes will be kept confidential and assessable only by the General Manager and the Director of Corporate Communications. They will revisit, revise and update at least annually.

Appendix B Media Contacts, Messages and Checklists

Media Contact List

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Our top three contacts are listed below (see complete media contact list in the Appendix)

TelevisionKIRO TV                    Assignment Desk       1-206-728-8308                 AD@kirotv.com

KOMO TV                  Assignment Desk      1-206-448-9250                 AD@king5.com

KING TV                    Assignment Desk      1-206-404-4145                 AD@King5.com

 RadioKIRO Radio                News Desk                 1-206-726-6397        News@KIRO.com

KOMO                        Corwin Haeck            1-206-404-3401        News@KOMO.com

AP          Gene Johnson             1-206-682-1812       News@AP.com                                    Phuong Le        

PRINTThe Everett Herald    

Rikki King              425-339-3449         rking@heraldnet.com

Dan Catchpole     425-339-3454            dcatchpole@heraldnet.com

 

Seattle Times              City Desk (Sea) 206-464-2200   

kriley@seatletimes.com              Kate Riley (Editorial)             206-464-2260    SeaSull@seattletimes.com Seattle PI    

                City Desk                               206-448-8000     citydeskpi@seattlepi.com

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Interview Checklist Be prepared and know what you’re going to talk about Use key messages (write out no more than three and stick to them) Bridge back to your key messages when reporter attempt to get you off

message – use statements such as: The most important thing is … I can tell you that … The critical issue is… Yes, and … I’ve heard that as well, yet the real focus needs to be on… What we do know is…

Admit if you don’t know the answer and let them know you’ll check into it

If on television, be aware that your answers and expressions are being recorded

Stay calm and don’t rush your answers Know the who, what, when, where and whys Avoid wearing white (it washes out on film) and dress appropriately Be aware of where microphones are so you get surprised thinking

you’re off record•       Look to the reporter, not to the camera•       Never say “no comment” or “off the record”

 

Press Release Checklist Place specific information in first paragraph(s) and general in later

paragraphs Double-space with wide margins (lots of white space) on single-sided

sheets Number the releases so they can be logged and tracked Include a contact person and time on each release If more than one page, number the pages Insert “more” at the bottom of pages where more pages follow Insert “end” at the end of the last paragraph Make sure release is signed off by appropriate person/position Get the release out quickly Follow-up releases must contain new information, not rehash the old

release Make sure internal stakeholders are informed before it goes out

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Note all media deadlines and stick to them Be prepared for follow-up interview requests Identify all quotes by name and the person’s title – keep quotes short Have a ready mailing, fax, email, courier list on ready for the releases Keep background information on hand so you can answer questions

when they come up

News Conferences Checklist Be careful you only invite those personnel that are needed Brief everyone involved with key messages and interview protocols Notify all media types via fax, phone, email, news release, etc Give advanced notice if possible Avoid planning news conferences during media deadline timeframes Consider size of group and plan the location carefully and accessibly Have room set up equipment ready to go:

o Chairs with wide aisleso Raised lectern (not located in front of a bright window)o Working microphoneso Avoid large banners in the background (looks like

advertising)o Have access to telephones, laptop power, fax for reporters

to meet their deadlines Provide handouts or a media kit with background information, org

charts, charts, graphs, visuals Have plenty of power strips and extension cords Provide water Keep conference to 30 minutes if possible and allow time for questions Have experts available if spokesperson is not one Don’t appear rude when you have to cut off questions and close out the

event

Social Media

Over the past decade, use of Twitter and Facebook for the dissemination of press releases and media events has reached equal value with distribution via telephone, fax or mail. The following contact list contains the major Twitter feeds for all news organizations in the region. This Twitter feed is connected to the District’s Facebook page, so that one will update the other from either input point.

Customers rely heavily on Facebook for updates on outages or major events that have disrupted service across our service territory. At any

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major event, there is one designated social media staff member as part of the Crisis Communication team. That person is responsible for:

Sending out Twitter and Facebook press releases and invites to media events

Updating Twitter and Facebook with new information as it becomes available

Correcting, guiding and informing public input as it appears on the Facebook site

Logging all outgoing messages Keeping a log of all negative comments and arranging approved

responses Keeping a log of all positive comments to feed back into title

snippets to reinforce actions being taken Conducting an after-action review Facilitating corrective measures for future events

Social media contact list

          KOMO-TV           LindsayCohen, LizDueweke, Scott Hopson

          KING-TV              KING5Unit5, joefryer, MarkWrightKING5, AMYSNewsBeat

          KIRO-TV               Lance Enger, GrahamKIRO7

 

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Appendix C: Initial Statements

Outline for Initial StatementsIntro Statement

Snohomish County PUD officials have activated the utility’s Emergency Plan and have established an Emergency Operations Center to respond to the situation. All emergency activities, including communications and support of on-the-scene emergency personnel, are being handled through the EOC to assure that the situation is handled as effectively as possible. We are currently assessing the situation, are coordinating with appropriate people and organizations outside the PUD, and are establishing priorities for response. At this time we know the following to be true about the situation:

 Dynamic Statements within the statement – after assessment of the event:

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What damage has occurred to the grid? Where are any outages? How many people are impacted by the outages?

 

Are there any injuries or fatalities involved? If so, what caused the incidents? How are the injured being cared for?

 

What specifically is being done in response to the situation? How many crews are available? Where are the located? What are they doing first?

 

Are there any spills of hazardous materials involved? If so, what and where?

 

What local, state or federal emergency services are responding to the situation?

 

Are all communication systems working? If not, what are the workaround strategies?

 

Is there an estimate of how long it will take for the utility to get matters under control?

 

What do we want the customers to do? How can the public get more information?

 

CLOSING:

The PUD is very concerned about the situation and the people involved. We want to assure everyone that the utility has procedures underway that will eventually get the matter under control. In the meantime, we will be communicating regularly to keep you fully informed as the situation continues to evolve. The PUD’s Emergency Public Information Center can be reached by calling: 425-555-5555.

 

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Example statements per type of event:Employee death in the field:This is _____________(spokesperson’s name) with the Snohomish Co PUD. At __________(time/date), an accident occurred in the field in the area of _________________________(geographic area), that resulted in the death of ___ (number of employee involved) employees. At the time of the accident, the victim was working to ___________________(briefly described the activity). Police and fire units and PUD emergency response staff were dispatched to the site immediately for assistance. We are not releasing the identity of the employee(s) at this time, until we can notify his/her family(ies).

This clearly is the type of event you never want to have to face as an employer. Our extensive safety program has been designed to minimize the chances of these types of accidents. We are currently investigating the event, and expect to continue over the next several days in order to determine the exact cause. Again, we are in the process of contracting the family, who have our heartfelt condolences during this very difficult time. You can expect additional updates for the media as we gather more information.

 

Earthquake with massive damageThis is __________________________(spokesperson) with the Snohomish County PUD. As you know, at ________________(date/time) and earthquake of undetermined magnitude occurred in the region. We have numerous downed lines and widespread power outages throughout our service area. PUD emergency response personnel are working along with police, fire and emergency aid agencies to identify problem areas and begin restoration efforts.

Please be careful of possible aftershocks and if shaking begins, seek shelter under a sturdy piece of furniture or in a doorway. Stay away from downed power lines and remember that electricity can travel through the ground for up to 20 feet depending on the condition of the soil or ground cover. If you see a downed line, please call 425-555-5555. We will be reporting progress regularly so please stay tuned to local media. You can expect another report __________________(this morning, afternoon or evening, hours if you have the ability to follow-through).

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Appendix D Pre-authorizations and Agreements

Pre-authorized messaging

I, _________________________________________, as the General Manager of the Snohomish County PUD, authorized the messages presented in Appendix C as a representation of consensus among utility Assistant General Managers across the District.

Pre-authorized Mutual Aid Agreements

I, ________________________________________, as the General Manager of the Snohomish County PUD, authorize mutual aid agreements with the following companies to provide corporate communications assistance if needed during a major crisis:

Seattle City Light Corp Comm ~$1.0 million

Puget Sound Energy Corp Comm ~$1.0 millionChelan PUD Corp Comm ~$1.0 millionContractor A Corp Comm ~$2.0

millionContractor B Corp Comm ~$2.0

million

Pre-authorized Meeting Facility Agreements

I, ________________________________________, as the General Manager of the Snohomish County PUD, authorize rental agreements with the following facilities if needed to house an Emergency Operation Center (EOC) or region-wide Joint Operation Center (JOC):

Hotel A ~$100,000Meeting Facility B ~$100,000

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Meeting Facility C ~$125,000

Pre-authorized Resource Agreements

Communication Staff ~5 people ($1.0 million/event)

Rental Equipment for Communications Center ~$3 million/event

AV Equipment and installation Tables, chairs and media backdrop Food, water and pre-packaged field kits Field clothing, helmets Computers, printers, fax, hard-wired phones

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Appendix E Event Log Date Time Activity Initials Notes

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Media Review LogDate Time Media Reporter Response to our messaging Follow-up Needed

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Appendix F After-Action ReviewA. Collect all information, activity logs, video clips from event siteB. Gather Crisis Communication team to put information in orderC. Assign staff to summarize all information gathered (media,

notes, social logs)D. Evaluate team responses, what worked well, failures,

miscommunicationsE. Create plan to improve weak areas – update Crisis

Communication Plan accordinglyF. Create a list of people to be recognized after the event for

outstanding effortsG. Assess all media actions and coverage – be honest about how

clear messages were in the heat of the moment; how staff performed in public interviews, etc.

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