Crisis Communication Plan

Fatality to Employee Spraying

Herbicide from Airboat

By: A.J. Conroy

Created: April 15, 2019

Test Date: June 20, 2019

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 Table of Contents

Introduction 3
Signed Acknowledgement 4
Purpose and Objectives 5
Internal Key publics 6
External Key Publics 7
Crisis Communication Team 8
Interview Tips 9
Potential Trick Questions for Interview 10
Issue Experts 12
Emergency Personnel 13
Crisis Equipment 14
Crisis Room Set-Up 15
Key Messages 16
Message Dissemination 17
Press Release 18
Evaluation 19
Closing Statement 20

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 Introduction
At Applied Aquatic, we are committed to providing the greatest care possible
when it comes to aquatic weed control. When it comes to lakefronts, lagoons, ponds or
any other wetland weed management we at Applied Aquatic strive in order to better the
management of exotic or non-native plants in the state of Florida as a whole.

Our company is committed to excellence and strives to over step boundaries in an effort
to provide services and information in the field of agriculture that will in turn better the
state of all types of waterways across the state, as well as strengthen peoples
knowledge about invasive aquatic plants and their effect on the environment.

For over thirty years, Applied Aquatic Management has been providing innovative and
effective water management services, selective vegetation control, wetland
management and exotic weed control throughout the state of Florida. We are equipped
with 57 airboats, and 70 transport/spray trucks all specially designed for the purpose of
spreading aquatic herbicides and have worked with counties, lakes, and waterways all
across the state of Florida.

At AAM, we take pride in hiring reliable and efficient personnel. Each and every one of
our employees have been educated and licensed through the Florida Department of
Agriculture to safely handle and work with aquatic herbicides. However, we understand
that in the case of crisis that a company must be educated and prepared on what to do
in order to professionally and correctly handle the crisis in a timely manner.

This crisis communication plan is meant to provide one with the information and
directions needed when the company is facing a crisis situation. The particular situation
this plan will be covering is the fatality to an employee spraying herbicide from an
airboat.

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 Signed Acknowledgement

By signing this statement, I acknowledge that I have read and

revised this plan and am prepared to initiate it whenever
necessary.

President and CEO _____________________ ____________

Signature Date

Vice President and CEO ____________________ ____________

Signature Date

Vice President ____________________ ____________

Signature Date

Office Manager ____________________ ____________

Signature Date

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 Purpose & Objectives

Purpose Statement

In the event that an injury or death occur to an employee while on the job spraying for
Applied Aquatic Weed Management Inc. it is critical that the company responds
immediately. The company must communicate with employees on, or around the jobsite
as quickly as possible so that misleading information, or false information doesn’t get
spread to the public through media and harm the company’s reputation. Applied
Aquatic is committed to effectively and correctly carrying out operations for aquatic plant
management on many of Florida’s public and private waterways. Our commitment to the
industry will help Applied effectively resolve the crisis at hand.

Objectives of the Plan

1. Initiate the Injury/Death Crisis Communication Plan within 2 hours of the crisis.

2. Distribute prepared information to employees, managers, and stakeholders within

Applied Aquatic Weed Management, informing them of the crisis.

3. Provide a step-by-step explanation of what the job was where the job was, and
how the accident occurred with areal maps and pictures that show the structure
and obstacles around that area.

4. Assess the situation, detailing what went wrong and what changes should be
made in order to prevent the reoccurrence of this crisis.

5. Initiate contact with all media inquires and all other parties in an honest manner.

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 Internal Key Publics

If injury or death to an employee of Applied Aquatic Weed Management

were to occur, the following individuals are to be notified as soon as
possible following the company receiving the news. We at Applied realize
that our key publics are a great contribution to the success of our company
and that crisis situations affect more than just Applied Aquatic and our
employees. That’s why in the event of a crisis we are committed to keeping
our stakeholders informed hourly via phone call with updated information
regarding the state and condition of the employee or employees whom
were injured.

Contacts

President/CEO Mine Services Manager

P.J. Myers - (863) 287-1087 Robbie Porterfield - (863) 326-5081

Quality Control/Safety Manager

Jerry Renney Jr. - (863) 287-1084

Office Manager and Human Resources (HR)

Stephanie Brown - (863) 781-5054 Investor Relations
Jack Conroy – (863) 559-4468
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Bayer Area Sales Manager
Jennifer Myers - (863) 287-9093

Project Manager
Keith Mangus - (863) 287-1082

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 External Key Publics

In the event that an injury or death occurs to an employee of Applied

Aquatic while spraying from an airboat on the job, the public relations
department will be responsible for relaying information to our external key
publics in a timely manner. Effectively and efficiently carrying out this tactic
will give Applied Aquatic the advantage of being able to sort out false
information that could harm the companies name before it reaches the
media. The government sector of our clients will be our main focus in
regards to informing the media about the crisis, how it happened, and what
we are doing about it in order to make sure the crisis doesn’t reoccur.

Media Contacts

Sector Contact Title Phone/E-mail/Address

SFWMD Randy Smith VP Corporate (561) 682-6197

Communications

FFWCC Eric Sutton Executive Director (850) 487-3796

FDEP Ana Lipson Executive Director (202) 409-4755

FDOT Kevin Thibault Secretary of FDOT (212) 786-9758

NPS Arnold Palmo Exec. VP Comm. (202) 208-6843

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 Crisis Communication Team

Title Employee Phone/Email

Crisis Communication Jerry Renney (863) 287-1084 jerry@appliedaquaticmgmt.com

Manager

Backup Crisis Comm. Keith Mangus (863) 287-1082 keith@appliedaquaticmgmt.com

Manager

Assistant Crisis Comm. Jennifer Myers (863) 287-9093 jmyers@appliedaquaticmgmt.com

Manager

Crisis Coordinator Robbie Porterfield (863)-326-5081 robbie@appliedaquaticmgmt.com

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 Interview Tips

Interview Tips for Crisis Spokesperson:

 Dress professionally
 Stand up straight with good posture and show confidence.
 Speak clearly at a steady pace and annunciate your words
 Be honest, clear, and concise
 Do not discuss extremely specific details pertaining to the
death of the employee
 Reassure the public that they will continue to be updated on
information released from the investigation.
 Do not share information that has not been verified
 Do not lie if you are unsure of an answer, tell the media that
you will get back to them with clarification

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 Potential Trick Questions for Interview
In the event that an employee of Applied Aquatic Weed Management, Inc. be seriously
injured or killed while spraying due to collision with another boat or object some
questions may be asked in order to trick or mislead information. The following are a list
of questions with the suggested response that the communication team at Applied has
agreed upon:

1. Q: Are employees of Applied Aquatic Management, Inc. trained to know what to

do if they are separated or lost from an employee in a tight area or trail where the
crew is spraying?

A: Yes, in order to come to work for AAM, individuals must complete a course
within the company to ensure that employees are familiar with steps necessary to
safely an correctly carry out a job.

2. Q: What are employees trained to do, if separated from other co-workers in the
crew while working the same area?

A: Each employee at AAM knows that if separated from a co-worker while

working the same area, that the lead boat is to pull over to the side of the trail or
area that is being treated and wait for the remaining co-worker or workers to
catch up, then discuss the situation.

3. Q: Does AAM require employees to have any type of licensing outside of the
company in order to operate equipment (airboat) in the company name on a
company job?

A: AAM requires every employee to complete a Florida Boating Safety Course.

This a Florida Fish and Wildlife approved course that teaches individuals about
safe boating tactics. After completion employees receive an FWC-issued boating
safety education card and are cleared to start the training course that Applied
Aquatic requires within company employees.

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4. Q: Is AAWM taking any different measures to ensure that there is not a
reoccurrence of this crisis?

A: Even before the death of an AAWM employee in the field, Applied Aquatic
took every measure necessary to make sure that employees working within our
company were prepared to carry out jobs as safely as possible. However, proper
documentation of this training has been one obstacle that has made this crisis so
difficult, in hand better documentation of our employee’s company training as
well as their requirements will be filed in the future.

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 Issue Experts

Licensing Expert:
Nicole Fried
Commissioner of Florida Department of
Agriculture and Consumer Services
(564) 542-8438
nicolefried@FDAC.com

Human Resource Department Manager:

Lisa Jefferson
Department Head
(863) 253-7201
lisajefferson@humanresources.com

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 Emergency Personnel

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

L&I Headquarters - Tumwater
7273 Linderson Way SW
Tumwater, WA 98501-5414
1-(800)-423-7233

United States Coast Guard (USCG)

U.S. Coast Guard
Office of Government & Public Affairs
2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE
Washington, D.C. 20593

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC)

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission
Farris Bryant Building
620 S. Meridian St. Tallahassee, Florida
(850) 488-4647

United States Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Agriculture
1800 Independence Ave, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20250
(202) 720-2791

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 Crisis Equipment
Phones
Computers
Web Camera
Conference Phone
Areal map of the location
Staplers
Pens
Pencils
Paper
White Board
Markers
Snacks
Drinks
Coffee
Sugar
Creamer
Information Packet
Television
Remotes
Computer
Projectors
High speed router
Hole Puncher
Extension cords

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 Crisis Room Set Up

Setting up the tables in the crisis room so that the configuration is

T-shaped will help the members of the crisis communication team
meet and discuss the measure that should be taken with the rest
of the company.

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 Key Messages

In the instance that Applied Aquatic Management suffers a death to an

employee while on the job AAM will communicate efficiently and effectively
with all parties involved in order to explain and resolve the crisis so that the
unfortunate event such as this one is not a obstacle that AAM will face in the
future to come.

Applied Aquatic Management will continue to practice the company’s core

values of training our employees to be as reliable, diligent, and safe as
humanly possible so that we can continue to display our professional and
knowledgeable water management practices to the state of Florida as we
have since 1981.

1. Our greatest concern is the fear that organizations and commissions

within the industry will be lead to think that AAM does not prepare
employees to carry jobs within the business safely.
2. We are working diligently to address the issue of not properly
documenting the requirements and certifications of our employees so that
if a crisis like death to an employee were to reoccur, AAM would be able
to properly show that our employees are certified to safely spray and
operate a vessel for the company.
3. Applied Aquatic Management will continue to educate existing employees
annually in order to stay up to date.
4. We will continue to answer questions regarding the death of our
employee to accurately explain the situation so that AAM will continue to
be seen as the professional aquatic weed management company that we
are.

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 Message Dissemination

We will cover the following means of disseminating the key messages of

Applied Aquatic Management, Inc. in the following ways:

Non-Seekers
 Hold conference call to inform SFWMD
 Phone call to FFWCC to inform location of the accident
 Email chemical suppliers (Helena & Bayer)

Individuals that seek concern for Applied Aquatic Management are typically
regarded as non-seekers. These would be companies that provide AAM
with herbicides, dyes, and other equipment necessary for management of
aquatic weeds. State organizations that AAM has contracts with like the
South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission will also be regarded as non-seekers.

Information Seekers
 Facebook, Twitter, and other media output updates with the public.
 Applied Aquatic Management blog (website)

Because media has the reputation of misleading the public with false
information when it comes to a crisis within a company AAM will provide
hourly updates about the investigation in order to accurately address the
crisis and how it happened. By addressing the crisis to the public as soon
as it occurs AAM will be able to better the control of misleading information
put out by unreliable sources.

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 Press Release
News Release

Contact: ________________________

E-mail: _________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Employee death during company job

Collision involving two Applied Aquatic Management employees spraying

herbicides in Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) results in death.

When AAM was informed of this incident, the company’s crisis

management team immediately began investigating what actions were
taken that resulted in this fatal collision.

Customers and organizations all over the state are keeping up with updates
that AAM is providing regarding the state of the investigation. As of now,
AAM has not been required to suspend any contracts regarding managing
aquatic waterways across the state of Florida, but we are assessing this
crisis thoroughly and taking action to ensure that the reoccurrence of this
crisis is not seen in our companies future.

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 Evaluation

After the fatality of an employee on the job, AAM will follow the information
provided in order to prepare the company for all types of potential crisis that
could threaten the company. This evaluation will review the tactics that the
management team used to resolve the crisis so that AAM can continue on
its path of success and excellence in the water management industry.

Crisis management team –How did these individuals deal with the media
while also being appropriate? How well did the AAM employees perform
under pressure?

Media relations – What did the media portray when talking about AAM?
Where there key points that AAM did not know about? Does the media
negatively or positively impact AAM?

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 Closing Statement

Here at Applied Aquatic Management we know weeds and how to manage them,
with more than thirty years of experience we have developed a line of cutting-
edge spray management techniques that provide our clients with immediate and
impressive results. We are dedicated to providing effective water management
techniques that our healthy and safe for our environment and community as a
whole. Thank you to everyone involved for your support and commitment to
Applied Aquatic Management, Inc.

Sincerely,

Applied Aquatic Management

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