Off The Record

As the world entered the New Year, a 2 January blast at the Sago coal mine in the state of West Virginia left 13 miners trapped underground.  As rescuers worked frantically to save the trapped men, the eyes of the world were upon the mine and the nearby town of Tallmansville where many families waited for word of their loved ones.

CNN provided live coverage - Non-stop 

Executives of International Coal Group (ICG), which owned the mine, were deep in a public crisis and had to do everything within their power to manage it.  And for the most part ICG’s executives did very well.  It was a text book approach to crisis management.

But then something went terribly wrong and the company was dealing with a new crisis – a crisis of trust.  A break down in communications resulted in news reports that 12 of the 13 trapped miners were found alive, whereas, in fact, all but one had perished.   Imagine the challenge facing company executives.  How do you tell 11 families still aglow with the news that their loved ones are alive, that the news was wrong, that their sons, husbands and fathers are dead?

So, what went wrong and what can public relations professionals learn from this awful incident to improve crisis communications systems and processes in their own organizations?

Chronology of the Disaster 

On the morning of Monday 2 January, miners returned to work at Sago Mine after the New Year’s holiday.  Two crews entered the mine.  At 6:31 a.m. there was an explosion and an electricity outage.  One of the crews was trapped nearly 3.5 kms from the mines entrance and more than seven metres underground.  The alarm was raised and fire, ambulance and rescue crews from towns in the vicinity were dispatched to the mine site.  It took nearly 10 hours to move bulldozers and drilling equipment to where the miners were believed to be.  The hope was that the miners had found an airlock in which to breathe.  At 10:30 p.m. drilling commenced to provide a shaft through which air could reach the trapped miners.  It took almost six hours to complete drilling.  At that point a camera was dropped down the hole, but no signs of life were detected and tests on air quality showed dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in the area the trapped miners were thought to be.

By 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday 3 January one miner was found and pronounced dead.  Rescue crews continued searching for the other 12 men, believing they were within one kilometer of them.  By 11:50 p.m. news gets out that the other 12 miners have been found alive and the town’s church bell was rung.  Families of the miners gathering at the church were overcome with relief.  Their smiles were broadcast around the world by CNN and other news networks.  People were hugging and kissing, giving each other high-fives.

But by 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, just two and half hours after hearing all were safe, news reached the church that only one miner, Randall McCloy, had been retrieved alive.  Smiles and jubilation instantly turned to anger and despair.  Shortly after 3:00 a.m. ICG’s President, Ben Hatfield, and other company executives arrived at the church to tell the families that all but one miner had perished and to apologize for the earlier miscommunication.  The people gathered at the church, overcome with grief and anger, shouted down the executives and verbally abused them.

People wanted to know what went wrong and how such a miscommunication was possible.  What had been text book crisis management for most of the period of the event had failed and company executives were left in a very difficult situation.

Text Book Crisis Management 

In the first few hours after the accident a media centre was established and media were provided regular updates through briefings.  CNN and other broadcast networks carried each briefing and news conference live.   A special media hotline was put in place for reporters to obtain information efficiently.

Senior executives were in the forefront answering questions – again, by the book.

The CAP principle was highly visible as executives expressed their concern about the accident and for the welfare of the trapped miners.  They then detailed the action being taken to deal with the situation – with updates on the rescue effort.  And they provided perspective where necessary, such as pointing out that ICG was not responsible for the rescue effort and therefore not able to comment on why and how things were being done. The rescue operation had been taken over by West Virginia emergency and rescue services.   Parrying difficult questions, the company spokespersons looked well trained and comfortable dealing with the media even in such terrible circumstances.

Few PR professionals have managed crises communications so well.  The perception was of a company that was behaving responsibly.  Society understands that accidents occur and people are forgiving when they see that the company is doing all in its power to deal with the situation, that it is concerned for the welfare of others, and (perhaps most importantly) that its behaving with due humility.  ICG was doing what it could to assist the trapped miners and its efforts were appreciated by all.  The honesty of company spokespeople helped build trust with the media and with the public.

But all this dissipated immediately when company spokespeople had to correct a miscommunication that 12 miners had been found alive when all but one had in fact perished.

Communications Breakdown

In the days following the accident emergency response company officials and investigators tried to understand how and why the miscommunication occurred.  One reason put forward was that the initial explosion had destroyed the hard line telephone system into the mine, forcing rescue workers to rely on two-way radio communications for information.  Two-way radio communications are less than ideal – sound quality is poor and there is considerable potential for words and sentences to sound unclear and distorted.

In addition, communications from the lead rescue team had to be relayed several times to reach the surface and crisis operations centre.  The lead rescue team which was the first to find the 12 remaining trapped miners (one had all ready been found and confirmed dead) had radioed the back-up rescue team.  They said: “Twelve bodies; one alive.”  By the time this reached the surface, the message had been contorted to “Twelve bodies; all alive.”  The rescue teams that dashed into the mine to help bring up the survivors as a result of this message were shocked to find all but one alive.

However, before anything could be corrected, word had reached the families of the trapped miners waiting for news at the local Baptist Church .  They started rejoicing.  TV news crews standing by and even some newspapers started reporting the “Miracle in the Mine” story, saying all remaining trapped miners were found alive.  Importantly, however, none of the media had received this information from the crisis communications centre.  Nor had the families received the information from official sources.

News reporters waiting at the Baptist Church , where families were awaiting news, were the first media to hear the initial incorrect reports.  Their sources were the families in the church.

How did these families get their information if not from official sources?

The problem was the overwhelming jubilation of everyone involved in the rescue operations.  They had all heard what they wanted to hear.  They were euphoric and they wanted to share their happiness.  Rescue workers in the command centre started reaching for their cell phones.  They called friends and relatives who in turn called friends and relatives despite the time.  Word reached the church where families were waiting for news and where news reporters were waiting to get the reactions of families when news arrived.  In the strange world of the 24 hour news cycle and modern mobile communications, they received the news ahead of the reporters camping at the crisis communications centre, who were the first to receive any official news.

As newspaper deadlines closed on the east coast of the , headlines were quickly changed to declare “Mine Miracle”.  In the world of supersonic global communications the news spread around the world before anything could be confirmed or disconfirmed by ICG.

Mark Twain once said: “A lie will get halfway around the world before the truth has got its pants on.”  ’s worst mining disaster in more than 30 years proved him right.

After rejoicing for three hours that their loved ones were all alive, hope was shattered.  And ICG was managing a new crisis – a crisis of trust, a crisis caused by miscommunications.  A crisis that could have been avoided.

Key Learning 

Communications during a crisis have got to be secured.  In the age of the mobile phone this is especially important.  Today’s communications systems make it possible for lies and half-truths to spread incredibly quickly.  The more that can be done to reduce the risk of misinformation getting out, the better.

So what can be done?

First and foremost, make non-official communications impossible between those in a crisis operations centre and the outside world.  Officials manning a crisis operations centre should be asked to relinquish their personal mobile phones as should rescue workers.  Only official mobile phones and radios should be used and they should only be used for official purposes.

Related to this, companies need to make sure that only official e-mail systems are used.  Internet access, particularly access to personal e-mail accounts, should be restricted.  Needless to say personal chat systems and chat rooms should also be restricted.

Information flow is the key to successful crisis communications.  Everything possible should be done to ensure it is accurate and controlled.  Only information that has been cleared and approved through appropriate channels should be released to the media and the public.

The only way to make sure the truth isn’t caught with its pants down is to make sure its belt is tight to begin with.