Duty of care failings | Types of Crisis

Duty of care crisis

All businesses have a duty of care in some form, whether it be to employees or customers. If you are a medical practitioner or run a care home, you have an obvious duty of care to your patients and clients. If you run an educational establishment, your primary duty of care is to your pupils and students.

Sometimes, things go wrong, and you fail in your duty of care. Perhaps a rogue employee has acted irresponsibly or inappropriately; perhaps the service you have provided falls short of acceptable standards; maybe your IT systems have been hacked and sensitive information compromised.

It’s highly likely that those affected will be quite vocal if they feel they have suffered as a result of your organisation’s failings. As well as taking to social media and review sites, there’s a very real possibility you will be reported to certain regulatory bodies and that the media will be contacted to highlight your shortcomings.

Clearly, your reputation could be jeopardised.

Our job is to help you respond quickly and appropriately to your various stakeholders, including those affected and, if necessary, the media.

My business was facing a torrent of unfair criticism on Facebook. It stemmed from one negative post by an ex-employee and escalated like wild fire. Your level-headed, practical advice helped get the negative comments removed. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Your calm and steady approach was everything I needed when my business was being unfairly criticised in the national press. You stopped me from responding in haste, which I realise now, was the worst thing I could have done! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

One of my co-directors was found guilty of drink driving. I was concerned that if it got out, we’d suffer from negative press and loss of business. As it happened, there was no backlash but being able to contact you and have some pre-prepared statements and letters ready was reassuring.

I thought the problem would go away if I ignored it. It didn’t. I was reluctant to use you but can honestly say, your support and advice helped pull me back from the brink. Your patience, clarity of thought and advice were just what I needed to get me through the emotional roller coaster.