With 2019 well underway, now is the time to take a step back and evaluate how your plans have been working so far. Have you already identified areas for improvement?
Whether you’re experiencing “blue sky” days or have already faced challenges in your jurisdictions, you can work now to put your agency in the best possible position to ensure continuity and appropriate response through the rest of the year.Let’s take a look at what you might expect, sharing some crisis communication tips along the way. We’ll also review best practices that took place related to Hurricane Florence in 2018.
Watch Trends, Strengthen Your Plan
While changes and continuity threats affect different agencies in different ways, you should stay abreast of these anticipated trends and account for them in your plan.[i] The time you spend improving your plan and closing any gaps will pay off in effectiveness and in a more responsive strategy.- Natural disasters – Every plan should account for natural disasters. In 2017, natural disasters led to a global economic loss of about $353 million.[ii] These events, hurricanes, earthquakes and fires, will continue to threaten agencies, cities and countries, this year and beyond. Extreme weather events and natural disasters rank as the world’s top two most likely risks in the next decade.[iii]
- Cybersecurity – Cybersecurity is the world’s third most likely risk for the next decade. In 2019, organizations can expect continued concerns around cyber activity, including ransomware attacks, phishing, malware and schemes to compromise email. In the last year, ransomware attacks have become increasingly prominent, with worldwide attacks increasing by 36%.
- Data outages – In addition to cyber threats, internal issues can lie behind data outages. Last year, infrastructure outages and severe service degradation incidents increased by six percent.[v] The message is that agencies must continually develop and invest in information technology infrastructures and have backup plans in place.
- Active assailants – Unfortunately, active assailants will likely remain a prominent risk in the coming year. The FBI reported 50 active shooter incidents in 21 states in 2016 and 2017, compared to 40 incidents in 26 states in 2014 and 2015. Of those 50 incidents, 27 occurred at workplaces, educational environments or on government properties.[vi]
- Mobile use – The number of mobile phone users worldwide is expected to pass 5 billion in 2019. In 2016, an estimated 62.9 percent of the population worldwide already owned a mobile phone. That number is expected to grow to 67 percent in 2019.[vii]
Remember that strong communications during any kind of crisis serves your mission by helping strengthen public safety efforts. The better your communications, the more likely you are to be able to improve safety and save lives. In turn, you bolster your agency’s capacity to weather crisis and your reputation.