CEN/TC 391/WG 3 - Crisis management/civil protection

This document provides guidance on crisis management to help organizations plan, establish, maintain, review and continually improve a strategic crisis management capability. This guidance can help any organization to identify and manage a crisis. Elements for consideration include:
—    context, core concepts, principles and challenges (see Clause 4);
—    developing an organization’s crisis management capability (see Clause 5);
—    crisis leadership (see Clause 6);
—    the decision-making challenges and complexities facing a crisis team in action (see Clause 7);
—    crisis communication (see Clause 8);
—    training, validation and learning from crises (see Clause 9).
It is applicable to top management with strategic responsibilities for the delivery of a crisis management capability in any organization. It can also be used by those who operate under the direction of top management.
This document acknowledges the relationship and interdependencies with various disciplines but is distinct from these topics.

Crises conditions may manifest themselves throughout all elements of global society and significantly
impact upon the goals and objectives of nations, regional and urban areas, communities, organizations
(both public sector and private enterprise) and individual people.
Crises may arise from failures to effectively manage security of assets, information, reputations or
sovereign risks to governments or organizations or to provide safety and protection of members of
society from personal injury, loss or harm.
The development of a Crisis Management Framework under which all related standards for crisis
management can be developed within the proposed WG9 provides a logical and consistent approach
within this new branch of study for TC 292.

This document provides guidance on good practice for crisis management to help the strategic decision makers of an organization to plan, implement, establish, operate, monitor, review, maintain and continually improve a crisis management capability. It is intended for any organization regardless of location, size, type, industry, structure, or sector. While it is important to be aware of human and cultural factors as they can cause stress when working as individuals and as part of groups, it is not the purpose of this document to examine aspects of these areas in detail.
This document provides guidance for:
- understanding the context and challenges of crisis management;
- developing an organization’s crisis management capability through preparedness (see 5.5);
- recognizing the complexities facing a crisis team in action;
- communicating successfully during a crisis; and
- reviewing and learning.
NOTE 1 For further information on organizational resilience, see ISO 22316.
This technical specification is intended for management with strategic responsibilities for the delivery of a crisis management capability. It is for those who operate under the direction and within policy of top management in:
- implementing the crisis plans and structures; and
- maintaining and assuring the procedures associated with the capability.
It is not intended for emergency and incident response - these require the application of operational procedures whereas crisis management relies on an adaptive, agile, and flexible strategic response (see 4.3).
It does not cover interoperability or command and control or business continuity management systems.
NOTE 2 For more information on interoperability and command and control, see ISO 22320. For more information on business continuity management systems, please see EN ISO 22301.