Crisis and emergency response

  1. As WU operates internationally, the risks of a crisis or emergency are higher than for a national organization. The following are the most likely:
    1. national financial crises in Western or non-Western countries
    2. local civil disruption
    3. terrorism, either in general or aimed at Christians
    4. sudden loss or incapacity of key employees.
  2. The Board will assess the need for crisis management training for WU employees.
  3. WU follows a general crisis response strategy as follows:
    1. Identify the problem: Recognize and acknowledge that there is a crisis.
    2. Take charge: The senior person on location is responsible to take charge of the situation.
    3. Assess risk.
    4. Contain the crisis:
      1. If possible, avert the crisis in its early stages before it becomes more serious. Otherwise, prevent it getting worse or slow it down.
      2. Isolate the problem so it does not spread. Keep the number of people involved as small as possible. Remove other people from the situation.
    5. Follow the procedure if WU already has a procedure for this kind of emergency.
    6. If WU does not already have a procedure, then it is necessary to:
      1. give priority to the physical safety of people involved, including oneself
      2. consider the range of options available and choose the best option.
    7. After the crisis, write an incident report.
    8. Provide aftercare and debriefing.
    9. Review the crisis response for lessons learned.
  4. In the case of a major crisis, the President will evaluate the need for a specialist Crisis Management Team (CMT), which is a temporary task force comprising a few people who know the situation well. They should be the only part of WU working on the crisis, and have the following objectives:
    1. Isolate the crisis from the rest of the organization.
    2. Reduce the number of personnel dealing with the crisis.
    3. Provide structure and discipline for the crisis resolution effort.
    4. Allow the rest of the organization to carry out their normal duties.