Page 89 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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7 70 Crisis Communication

Blackrock, directly across Dublin Bay from Sutton. It moved all of
its Support Office functions to Blackrock while the planning
process and construction work in Sutton progressed.
It was to be over a year before the Sutton shop re-opened and
longer before the Support Office functions moved back. During
that time there was a communication programme in operation
but it was not as intense as in Blanchardstown.
If it is true that no two crises are the same or can be managed
in exactly the same way, Superquinn is no exception. The differ-
ences were not just in the timescale or the extent of the fires. The
inclusion of the Support Office that contained all of the systems
and records for the business brought a different dimension.
This was dramatically outlined by the then Chairman of
Superquinn, Vincent O’Doherty, speaking at a conference on
crisis management organized in 1990 in Dublin by Walsh Public
Relations and the Sunday Business Post. He described the
lessons they had learnt from the Blanchardstown fire and, signif-
icantly, the need to protect business records and to have ade-
quate insurance cover:
Our insurance was 100 per cent, our valuations were up-to-
date, we were thoroughly covered for everything that might
occur. We were excellently served by both our broker and
insurance company. I had the insurance broker on the site at
8 o’clock the morning following the fire and he was able to
assure me that we were fully covered.
I had in my hands the afternoon of that day a seven-figure
cheque and I don’t think that you can do better in the way of
insurance than that. That was a vital reassurance and allowed
us to move on and make decisions as quickly as possible.
One aspect of the insurance which turned out to be most
critical for us was the so-called consequential loss cover for the
effects on your bottom line of loss of business, not only when
you are totally out of business but during the period in which
you recover and are attempting to restore your business.
The reasons why companies go out of business in occur-
rence of a fire, very largely has to do with the destruction of
their records. We were very heavily computerized and every
bit of financial and management accounting is on computer.
We followed the discipline that every computer company will
tell you to observe, which is that you should duplicate your
records and take them out of the building.