At its core, NACD Responsible Distribution®, our mandatory third-party verified environmental, health, safety, and security (EHS&S) program, is about continuous improvement and ensuring our members implement best practices. For over three decades, this program has kept chemical distributors and local communities safe, but over time, the landscape in which we operate has also changed dramatically. To help address these changes, Responsible Distribution incorporated requirements to Code VII Emergency Response and Public Preparedness, specifically around crisis communication and responding to the media.
In our modern-day 24/7 digital world, where minutes count, this is precisely the challenge envisioned when the SituationHub.com software suite was built specifically to help NACD members communicate quickly with the media and their employees, customers, and communities. SituationHub can write a news release or employee statement in three to five minutes—an astounding accomplishment, considering most companies spend more than three hours working through drafts and approvals when a situation could become a crisis.
“We know NACD members are chemical experts, safety experts, and transportation experts, but many do not have a staff for public relations,” said SituationHub founder Gerard Braud. “So, we invented SituationHub as an affordable way for members to distribute fast, factual information to key stakeholders. Our goal is to automate the complicated crisis communications process.”
When a situation is unfolding, the user can log in to the software and select a pull-down tab that matches the situation at hand—be it a flood, a transportation accident, or a cyber-attack—the software then asks questions specific to that event. After answering the questions, an Alert Team button sends the details to key members of your organization’s management team, so everyone has situational awareness via a virtual Situation Room. This eliminates the traditional calling tree and time lost repeating the facts to people.
At the same time, SituationHub has also automatically written a news release. All you need to do is check to make sure the facts are correct, and with one button, you can publish the statement to the internet for the media, your employees, your customers, and your community.
For companies like Kurt Hettinga’s Superior, SituationHub has been an invaluable resource. While the company has rarely found itself in a crisis in its nearly 90-year history, Hettinga expressed that crisis communications had been on his mind for the past decade or more. SituationHub helped Superior prepare itself and train staff, including those who would be on-site for a crisis, should such a rarity occur. In fact, Superior even worked with SituationHub to develop and customize an incident scenario.
NACD and association members, like Superior, are committed to preparing for any potential crises. Whether to fulfill the important Responsible Distribution Code VII Emergency Response and Public Preparedness requirements or to protect the long-term interests of your company, being prepared is essential to our work in chemical distribution. Tools like SituationHub make that exponentially easier.
SituationHub is an NACD Affiliate member and strategic partner. Learn more at SituationHub.com
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