Increased confidence in responding to a crisis, incident or emergency

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Our client is one of the world’s largest Latin American food producers with factories in North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The Manufacturing Manager of their largest UK site wanted to ensure that their plant, and their wider UK operations, were prepared for any disruption. With a fire at another European plant, uncertainty in the supply chain, and the COVID pandemic, the importance of effective incident, emergency, and crisis preparedness was highlighted. Our client sought out CHEMTREC’s crisis experts to conduct an immersive training and exercise session for their senior management team, recognizing CHEMTREC’s strong track record in supporting teams that are less familiar with crisis and emergency management.

Increased understanding of roles and responsibilities
The site had a well-developed crisis and emergency plan. CHEMTREC consultants reviewed this plan prior to training and tailored the training to ensure that the roles and responsibilities outlined in the plan were brought to life through investor database interactive discussions and scenarios. The scenario in particular provided an opportunity for individuals to discuss and imagine their role in a real event and explore how best to interact with colleagues and identify areas for improvement. Training is about bringing the plan to life, allowing potential responders to live and breathe the role, and understanding how it works in practice and then adapting plans where necessary.

“We will take a lot from this course to improve our procedures.”

CHEMTREC’s approach to crisis, incident, and emergency management involved not only training the team on their plan, but also exploring the fundamental skills needed to effectively coordinate any response. Through the training, the team explored the application of situational awareness, leadership styles, and decision-making tools, and discussed the importance of communication. The team also discussed the stress and pressure that can arise when handling a response, the impacts of this, and strategies for dealing with this. The result was a significant increase in confidence, and the team not only understood their plan, but had practical tools and techniques to put it into practice.



Team building and bonding
The training session was the first time in months that many of the team members had been gathered in the same room, and we recognize that this is often true as the workforce becomes more dispersed and personnel work from home. The fun, engaging, and relaxed approach to the training provided opportunities for the team to reconnect and bond. Exercises such as a “zombie invasion” provided practical benefits for the team, but also created an atmosphere where the team could learn more about each other and reconnect. This is critical, not only in a crisis or emergency situation, but also in everyday business when close working relationships are important. CHEMTREC prides itself on providing training that is innovative and engaging.