Over 30 Workers Trapped After Chilean Copper Mine Collapse

Submitted By lindseywilliamson
Words: 868
Pages: 4

In the article “Over 30 Workers Trapped After Chilean Copper Mine Collapse” it describes a terrifying scene when the mine suffered a cave-in with over 30 copper miners still in the mine. This is a situation in which the company needs to have very specific regulations as to company communications with different audiences. The audiences that would be most important in this particular instance is the families of the miners trapped and other employees of the company. The communications should be held in a manner in which they keep the indented audiences needs in mind. The first group of people that should be contacted in a crisis such as this would be the families of the trapped miners. The communications should be direct and with as much information as possible while keeping an empathetic tone. For instance, they should reassure them that every precaution is going to be taken to ensure their safe rescue and, if possible, establish an official line of communication such as an email or automatic phone message with updates every few hours. It is important to family members that they know they will be kept informed of what is going on. Another thing to keep in mind when communicating with families of the trapped miners is to tell them not to listen to the news or other media sources on the events taking place. Most news crews will not report accurate information from credible sources, so it is important for them to rely on the information being provided by the companies established line of communication whether that be via email or phone or whatever source they choose to use. It is important to explain why listening to the news could rile them up even more, because if they hear false information about conditions or potential outcomes then it can cause more stress which does not help the search and rescue mission. It is important that the family remain hopeful as much as possible while letting crews do their work so their loved ones can be found as soon as possible. After the families have been informed on the situation, it will also be important to keep employees up to date on what is going on. They may not need to know as much as the families will, but those are their co-workers and friends that are trapped so it is still important to remain in an empathetic tone. It is also important for the company to let them know they will be investigating the cause of the cave-in as to ensure preventative measures will be taken in the future to help them feel more secure about their own jobs. Actions that should be taken before the communication should be that all intended persons that need to receive the message would in fact receive the message. It is important for the company to keep updated emergency contact information in case something like this ever should happen. After the incident has been resolved, it is important that the company sticks to any promises made during the crisis, such as an investigation into the cause of the cave in and putting in place preventative measures. It does not do the company any good to not follow through with promises nor does it do any good for the employees.

Some potential communications