Crisis Management this week at Alton Towers
Accidents and disasters happen to all companies at some stage or another. This week it was the turn of Merlin Entertainements, which is the the company that owns Alton Towers, where the latest accident on a roller coaster took place. Managing a crisis is key to keeping your business going and ensuring that your shareholders remain on your side and you don't lose the company.
Let's have a look at what happened, as reported in the Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/09/alton-towers-owner-faces-multimillion-pound-legal-bill-over-smiler-crash
The owner of Alton Towers is facing a soaring multimillion-pound legal bill after admitting responsibility for the rollercoaster crash that left four people with serious injuries.
Merlin Entertainments is understood to be preparing for payouts of at least seven figures to help the 16 victims of last week’s crash on the Smiler ride.
The most seriously injured victims – including 17-year-old Leah Washington who has had her left leg amputated above the knee – could expect to receive at least £1m in damages, senior legal sources told the Guardian.
“You are definitely talking about multimillion-pound claims for people who can’t walk any more. People who have continuing difficulties, each case will be a multimillion-pound claim potentially,” said Daniel Marks, a partner at the London law firm Harbottle & Lewis.
Fellow passengers Vicky Balch, 20, and Daniel Thorpe, 27, also remain seriously injured, described as in “serious but stable” condition.
As a Health & Safety Executive investigation into the cause of the collision continues, lawyers representing the victims are due to meet Merlin’s insurers this week after the theme park operator admitted “full responsibility” for the accident.
Marks, who specialises in personal injury law, said the most seriously injured Alton Towers victims may be entitled to significant sums in compensation for loss of earnings, future care and psychiatric damage.
It took emergency services over four hours to rescue some of the Smiler’s most seriously injured passengers, who were stuck 20ft in the air at a 45-degree angle.
“Merlin’s insurers will have to set aside very significant amounts,” Marks said. “The injuries might have been aggravated by how long it took to free them. To get to the seven-figure sum, it’s about the loss of earnings and the cost of care.”
Tristan Hallam, a personal injury lawyer with the firm Slater and Gordon, said: “Now is a time when those involved may begin looking at how they are going to meet the needs and costs they will likely face in the months ahead such as changes to their home or rehabilitation.
“At this stage contact should be made, ideally via solicitors by those who have been injured and their family members, with the insurers for Alton Towers. This is vitally important so that insurers can assist in the recovery process and to work in conjunction with the treatment already being received. Insurers will be carrying out an in-depth inquiry of the accident and will no doubt be liaising with the Health and Safety Executive.
“In the meantime, the insurers should assist in identifying the immediate needs of those who were injured and their families and not just from the perspective of the physical injuries but also having regard to the psychiatric injuries given the terrifying circumstances of the accident. “
At this point the company was not in a good position. Was there anything they could do to morally make it better as well as doing the right thing for the company?
At the weekend, Merlin sent hand-delivered letters to each of the 16 victims, accepting full responsibility for the accident and vowing to pay them compensation.
It has agreed to deal “swiftly and sensitively” with their personal injury claims and is using the specialist rehabilitation firm Health and Case Management Ltd to offer support to the crash victims.
Good call, compassion and a fast response to sort things out shows the company is taking the situation seriously.
Then Nick Varney gave a fantastic interview to Sky News. He was cool, calm, eloquent and had been well trained in crisis communications to deal with aggressive interviewers.
Nick Varney, chief executive of Merlin Entertainments, said on Monday: “We are deeply saddened by the news about Leah and all our thoughts are with her and her family. We cannot undo the events of last week but everyone in the company and at Alton Towers is determined to do all we can to provide appropriate support to those who were injured and their families.”
Nothing will change the position of the company with regards to serious injury or death, but you can manage the situation and get the crisis under control and into a position where you can resolve it the best way you can.
With good training in crisis management and a good spokesperson who is well trained in crisis communications; how to deal with interviewers who don't listen, talk over the top and adaopt a patronising tone, the company can cope and come out of it with the company still intact. Watch the Sky News interview here to see how Varney handled Sky.:
Contact us at [email protected] for training in how to deal with a crisis and crisis communications in the UK and overseas.
RPS sends best wishes to Leah Washington, her boyfriend, Joe Pugh, and fellow passengers Vicky Balch, and Daniel Thorpe and wishs them a recovery.
Photo: With thanks to Fabio De Paola/PA The Smiler ride at Alton Towers