Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Page 3
Acknowledgments
Page 4
Rehearsal Dates
Page 5
Page 6
Key Publics
Page 6-8
Page 8-10
Page 10
Emergency Personnel
Page 10
Page 12
Pre-Gather Information
Page 12-13
Page 13-14
Page 14
Page 15
Page 15
Rehearsal
Page 15-16
I.
Introduction
The Childrens Museum of Houston (CMH) was founded in 1980 by a group of Houston
parents who hoped to enhance the early childhood development in the Houston community.
After 34 years of serving the Houston community, the Museum now serves over 850,000 people
annually, focusing on bilingual, fun and hands-on learning for kids from ages birth to 12 years in
subjects such as literacy, science, math, health, engineering, civic engagement, culture and social
studies. According to the mission statement, the Childrens Museum of Houston is transforming
communities through innovative, child-centered learning. The staff at the Childrens Museum
of Houston work with children, and ensure a fun, positive and educational visitor experience.
The safety of our visitors is our number one priority. With the increased risk and reports of
child abduction and missing children from around the nation, we have taken extra preventative
measures to ensure that we are providing our guests with the safest environment. We have
established a crisis plan detailing step-by-step actions to be implemented in the case of an
abducted/missing child within the museum property. We must ensure that the Childrens
Museum has proper procedures put in place, in the case of an abducted/missing child on our
premises, so that the museum may continue to provide fun and educational learning experiences
to the community.
Although our premises is fully gated and certain safety precautions have already been put
into effect regarding the identity and background of our visitor, we continue to serve hundreds of
people in the Houston area daily. There is no age restriction on who may and may not enter the
museum; therefore, there is potential danger in welcoming all kinds of visitors to the museum.
Thankfully, our organization has yet to encounter such a crisis, but we will continue to improve
our safety measures as we hear of similar cases around us.
II.
Acknowledgments
To be signed by:
Tammie Kahn, Executive Director
Rita Villanueva, Director of Human Resources
Elaine Holthe, Director of Visitor Experience
By signing this statement, I verify that I have read this Crisis Communication Plan
and am prepared to put it into effect
________________________
(Signature and date)
Tammie Kahn, Executive Director
________________________
(Signature and date)
Rita Villanueva, Director of Human Resources
________________________
(Signature and date)
Elaine Holthe, Director of Visitor Experience
III.
Rehearsal Dates
To ensure the effectiveness of our crisis communication plan among our staff, we have
scheduled two rehearsal dates for a crisis communication plan stimulation. The stimulations have
been scheduled before our two busiest seasons so that any flaw may be addressed and fixed
immediately; the first stimulation will be held before the Christmas holiday and the other
stimulation will be held before school has been dismissed for the summer.
Rehearsal Dates
December 16, 2014
May 10, 2015
IV.
V.
Key Publics
The key publics that would be affected if a child were abducted from Childrens Museum of
Houston would include:
Type
Public
Description
How to Reach
Museum
staffers
Museum
patrons
First
responders
Neighboring
establishments
Childrens Museum of
Houston is located in a busy
neighborhood. In the event
of an abduction, we would
make sure to immediately
inform our neighbors so
they could take
Internal
precautionary measures of
their own and be watchful
and of assistance.
Media
Community
Childrens Museum of
Houston is an important
member of the Houston
community, and the
museum relies upon
community trust. It will be
necessary to maintain an
honest, open line of
communication with
individuals of the
community so as to position
ourselves to win their trust.
External
VI.
A strong crisis communication team with clearly defined roles is essential for executing the crisis
communication plan. Beneath is a list of roles for the members of the crisis communication
team.
a) Spokesperson
The spokesperson for important events is Executive Director, Tammie Kahn. Ms. Kahn, as the
executive director, is accountable to the board of directors. However, she is capable of making
decisions about the safety and well-being of staff and visitors present. Therefore, her role will be
to implement the crisis plan and alerting the necessary parties and emergency personnel. As the
spokesperson, the executive director will be kept abreast of all developments and details
surrounding the crisis. She will act as the voice and representative of the unified Childrens
Museum of Houston.
b) Media Liaison
Child abductions receive a substantial amount of media coverage. In the case of a crisis like this,
media inquiries about the status of the crisis are inevitable. With this in mind, the media liaison
will log all communications with the media, and be charged with responding to them promptly,
as well as with making updates to the website. This liaison will assist the executive director in
her duties as chief spokesperson.
c) Visitor Liaison
Visitors, both parents and children, will be in a state of worry regarding their own safety and the
safety of their children. The visitor liaison will be responsible for communicating the status of
the crisis with visiting parents and children. To ensure that the museum can maintain contact
with parties present at the crisis, visitors on the scene should have their contact information
collected. The visitor liaison is responsible for mobilizing the visitors in a secure area.
d) Community Liaison
There is no doubt that this event will be jarring for the community at large, therefore it is
necessary for a community liaison to be in contact with individuals or organizations that may
offer assistance.
e) Control Center Manager
This managerial position will be responsible for the operations within the control center. These
duties include the setting up of the crisis control center and maintaining the centers resources,
including rations, tools, and information. The manager will also be responsible for setting up an
area for press conferences.
f) Phone Workers
In the event of a crisis at the museum, parents, visitors, and the media will attempt to contact the
museum for further details. Phone workers will assist these publics by relaying the key messages
to those inquiring about the status of the crisis.
VII.
Name
Spokesperson
Media Liaison
Henry Yau
Elaine Holthe
VIII.
Emergency Personnel
In the event of a security breach on our campus, our first step would be to call emergency
responders including Fort Worth Police and Fire Departments.
Houston Police Department
Emergency Phone
9-1-1
Address
9-1-1
Address
IX.
The Crisis Control Room will be situated in the conference room of the Childrens Museum of
Houston. If more space is needed, the adjacent smaller conference room will serve as an
extension of the principle Control Room. The materials listed below, as well as the pre-gathered
information documents are contained in a box labeled Emergency Supply Kit in the office
main supply closet.
XI.
Mobile computers
Folding tables
Legal pads
Crisis plan
Pre-Gather Information
Copies of all of this information is kept in the crisis preparation kit which itself is kept in the
office of the president of the museum. The pre-gathered information binder includes:
Phone books
XII.
Initial Tweets:
Child reported missing from Childrens Museum of Houston at XX:XX. Exits are secured and
police notified. Will update info as more info becomes available
Missing child located and museum is now safe. Exits have been reopened and patrons are able
to leave
Child abduction case now being handled by Houston Police Department. The Childrens
Museum is now safe and clear.
Placeholder Statement: We have secured all exits and will get back to you with further details
as they become available.
operations plan and within minutes the HPD was on-site and began search-and-rescue tactics.
The boy/girl is now safe and sound, and the suspect was taken into custody. We will give you
more details as they become available, and ask you to respect the family of the victims privacy
in this difficult time. We also would like to commend our employees for their timeliness and
courage in securing the safety of our patrons.
XIII.
Type
Public
How to Reach
Museum staffers
Museum patrons
First responders
Neighboring
establishments
Media
Media liaison will contact media via phone call and email
to notify reporters of press conference.
Community
Internal
External
XIV.
Plan will be reviewed on January 1st of each year and corrections will be made as necessary.
XV.
Role
Name
Spokesperson
Tammie Kahn
Media Liaison
(also backup spokesperson)
Henry Yau
Community Liaison
Rita Villanueva
Elaine Holthe
XVI.
A.
Courtney Fillmore
Kelly Brown
Rehearsal
_________________________________
Signature
____________
Date
Executive Director will review plan again on/or before: January 1, 2015
B.
Name
Spokesperson
Tammie Kahn
Receivers initial
Media Liaison
Henry Yau
Rita Villanueva
Elaine Holthe
C.
Media
Courtney Fillmore
Community
Rita Villanueva
Rehearsal of the crisis plan allows for our organization to discover the strengths and weaknesses
of our plan. One of these three exercises should be completed every 6 months:
1. Simulation Activity: Key personnel will sit down together and discuss step by step each
phase of response within a crisis event. The goal of this exercise is to have the team
engage in problem-solving situations and explore as a group solutions and ideas that may
or may not already be in the crisis plan.
2. Functional drill: This exercise is designed to test the crisis management team in real
time. The goal is to go through the process and find new ways to improve the plan.
3. Full scale drill exercises: In this exercise all personnel will be involved to test the
complete crisis plan in a simulated environment. All stakeholders within the organization
will need to collaborate in order to achieve optimal results. Additionally this exercise
may require stakeholders to think outside the box.
Evaluation
The crisis management plan was followed. Circle one:
Not at all
0
Somewhat
2
Completely
6
10