What happens when your PIO gets sick?

As a PIO it is your job to gather, verify, coordinate, and disseminates accurate, accessible, and timely information on an incident’s cause, size, and current situation; resources committed; and other matters of general interest for both internal and external use.

You are working a crisis, you have been talking to the media, sending out social media and crafting both internal and external messages, suddenly you begin to feel ill. At first you didn’t think anything  

of it. You decide to call it a day, maybe it is the stress of the incident, some rest will help. You wake up the next morning, but you know it’s not good, your dizzy and have a fever! What is the alternative for when you go down? How will you manage this crisis?

Well since the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic this is a very real possibility, so what is your contingency? Do you have one? Obviously, in this scenario having a contingency, for when the Public Information Officer is unavailable or out might be too late.   If you don’t have one, now it’s time to think of what you should prepare for.

Who will be your backup? In most organizations unless you are one of the major city agencies like New York, Chicago, Boston or Los Angeles your organization is a one-person shop. Obviously, you are not working 24/7/365, and you are certainly entitled to personal time off. Most organizations relinquish the PIO duties to, when the PIO is off to a senior executive in the organization. They will handle on camera interviews as well as address telephone and email inquiries. But when the crisis, unfolds and the PIO is unavailable, that executive leader will most certainly be involved in the

management of the incident.

For this reason, it is very important to develop other staff members who can step in when there is a need to field telephone calls, take messages, monitor social media and if necessary, craft a media release. Procedures must be put into place on how media releases are approved to be released. It would also be important to have prior to any incident developed relationships with other public information officers who would be available to assist. There are organizations that have created Public Information Assistance Teams or PIAT’s. These groups would rapidly respond to requests for assistance, bringing with them experienced professionals to backfill areas needed and provide the staffing necessary to handle an incident through its completion.

But again, all of this is about having pre-planned to have those resources in place prior to the incident occurring. As well as training your backup person to step into your shoes if you are not available or

incapacitated.

Do you have a contingency plan in place to address your absence for more than a few days? Do you have a PIO manual? Which can walk someone through some of the basics necessary? If you don’t now is the time to put one together. It should contain the following:

• Contact list for local, national news media.
• User Names and Passwords for Social Media Accounts and services
• Contact list for other local Public Information Officers.
• Emergency Operations Plans, note: may be a separate manual.
• Key Messaging
• Phrases and words to avoid
• Managing a onsite Media interview
• Running a Press Conference
• Calendar of Events and Activity
• APA style guide for law enforcement specific language
• Agency Style Guide, note: may be a separate document
• Bridging statements
• Log Sheets, to document which reports and news organizations contact you regarding a specific incident
• Crisis Templates, these would cover most incidents you may encounter. These allow you to anticipate the questions, the media might pose and prepare your responses appropriately.
• Public Education Messaging
• Messaging for Special Needs Population
• National Incident Management System protocols
• Joint Information Centers (JIC) activation

Putting together this manual is not an easy thing to do, but it’s an important piece of the pie that

makes your role as the organizations Public Information Officer. It should be your job to have these resources ready to go to make your job easy and the roll of the person who might be tasked to step in. There are products available, as well as training that can be taken that will assist you in putting together your manual. Look at the National Information Officers Association (NIOA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and identify if you have a state association that can assist you.

Rest assured preparation for the incident is important, but it’s equally important to be prepared for your replacement as well.  We are not Superman, regardless if people think we work insane schedules or hours as well as deal with very difficult people with poise and compassion.  It should be our job to make the roll of the next person stepping in easier than when we stepped into the role!