After an incident has happened:

Implement the Incident Response Plan (if you have one)

If you have a plan - implement it. If you don't have a plan then put this on your risk register.
Sometimes plans can be followed in a crisis and sometimes they can't. Are they flexible enough to cope with new situations? Even if you have a plan that is working then you may still need external assistance. How often do you need to revise the plan?
If you don't have a plan to follow then seek the best assistance you can and don't waste valuable time in an emergency taking the wrong steps. Seek advice from people who have advised many clients before, during and after a variety of serious incidents.
If you have a plan - have you battle-tested and refined it? Many of our clients have been involved in serious incidents and continue to operate in high risk industries. Where incidents have occurred and the threat of serious incidents is ever present, then planning an appropriate response is a worthwhile investment in time and resources.

Manage the Incident on-site

On Site Incident Management

When incidents happen on site, supervisors and managers may be absent or staff on site may be in a state of shock. They may need careful coaching and/or assistance to manage the incident until assistance can arrive.
Will your response be helped or hampered as the incident progresses? Who should be interviewed and how do you support them? Consider the actions that need to be taken to protect the business, the employees and the public; in the short, medium and long term.

Manage the Incident off-site

Off Site Incident Management

After several hours on-site after an incident has occurred, managers may need rest or to be replaced. How do you arrange to do this without losing the on-site expertise?
Do senior managers really need to rush to the site to take control? If they do then what role are they performing?
What effect will a post-incident statement have? Should an apology be given or do statements need to be issued at all.
Who should be in control?
Will your off-site support systems work if key members of staff are on holiday or if roles are left vacant pending recruitment?

Anticipate the many steps involved in responding appropriately to an incident and you will help to provide the right level of detailed support at each stage, supporting those managing an incident with on-site and remote advice, steering the organisation's response, and facilitating the accident investigation and interview process.

Manage the ongoing investigations

What is the right balance between assisting the regulator with voluntary information and preserving information to protect shareholders interests?
How do you avoid accidental or intended self-implication by employees or the organisation itself and help to ensure the delivery of the right information at the right stage of the investigation?
How do you avoid the impact of the disclosure of damaging information by whistleblowers?
Can you ensure that you take the right opportunities to have a positive effect on the regulator?

Court If, later, you are threatened with prosecution then we can give you practical, no-nonsense advice on the best course of action, not simply the easiest or most well known steps, or those that someone else is willing to pay for.

Non-specialists may know how to defend civil claims, or the procedures that result in criminal prosecution, or how to enter a guilty plea, but do they know how best to avoid Court at all? Let us de-mistify the process and advise you in simple terms whether you should be shouldering the blame or defending your reputation in other ways.

No matter whether your organisation is a private company or a public body then it will still have the legal right to choose its own specialist legal advisers to deal with the avoidance of prosecution, with its defence and any subsequent effects on civil claims that that will have. Don't simply go along with the cost-effective panel solution suggested by an insurer

In every case we can suggest the most suitable options for specialist advice and assistance.