Dreamworld tragedy: crisis needs constant input from the top

Ardent Leisure should be able to repair its image if it handles this week’s tragedy the right way, PR experts say.

Leisure and theme park company Ardent Leisure should be able to repair its corporate image if it handles this week’s tragedy the right way, public relations experts said yesterday.

But the next few days and weeks will be critical in how the market and the public regards the company that owns one of Australia’s most famous attractions.

Carnival’s chief executive Ann Sherry is seen to have done a great job in turning around the reputation of the cruise company, which had suffered in the wake of the death of Dianne Brimble in 2002 and the image of passengers having to cope with booze-fuelled louts and schoolies.

But she was cleaning up a situation that did not happen under her watch as chief executive.

BHP’s handling of the crisis in its half-owned Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil has been held up as an example of a company working its way through a very difficult situation led by its chief executive.

In America, pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson is still held up as a textbook example of how to cope with a crisis, after the 1982 deaths of several people via contaminated capsules from leading painkiller Tylenol.

In Ardent’s case, the lack of a public appearance by chief executive Deborah Thomas or chairman Neil Balnaves since the accident has already garnered some criticism, with its media ­relations being handled by external communications company Newgate Australia.

Public relations and crisis communications experts stressed yesterday the importance of constant communications by senior executives. They warn that a lack of communica­tion by senior members of a company in the event of a crisis can lead to a vacuum which will be filled by other, often more critical, voices.

They also stressed the importance of companies having a tested crisis communications plan to swing into action in the event of a serious incident or a disaster. This could include setting up a “war room” of staff dealing with the ­crisis and co-ordinating responses to all stakeholders from the media, staff and external groups such as the police.

They also stress the importance of having a social media plan to change company websites and Twitter and Facebook feeds to ­reflect the changed mood.

In Ardent’s case, its Dreamworld theme park, which has been closed since the accident, was still being touted as one of its major attractions on the company’s website yesterday.