Background & Overview On the 20th of April 2010, an explosion and a huge fire erupted in an oil rig. This event became known as the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill crisis. This incident was considered as the largest maritime disaster oil spill in the US history because, aside from the death of eleven crew members, its economic and environmental impacts were considerable. This event not only created extreme havoc in 2010, but BP is still cleaning up the mess & working on gaining back their reputation. For 87 straight days, oil and methane gas spewed from an uncapped wellhead, 1 mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico ocean, eventually affecting many of the coastal US states. One year after the oil spill, the “l2th Annual Harris Interactive U.S. Reputation Quotient (RQ) Survey” revealed that BP was in the top 10 companies for worst ethical standards, least likely to recommend, and lowest trust (Harris Interactive, 2011). According to a 2015 CNN broadcast, ‘the federal government estimated 4.2 million barrels of …show more content…
That is why having a crisis plan in place is necessary. Having a pre-crisis (first) phase planned will minimize the risk of the situation. The company should know potential warning signs, have preemptive planning/training programs, proper testing of equipment, etc. The next stage is the model (second) is the response to and management of the actual crisis. During this phase, a crisis management response is chosen and implemented, damage is mitigated, as well as stakeholders and the media are informed and managed (Jaques, pg. 156). The final phase in the model (third) is the post-crisis phase. This stage is thoughtful and includes a continuation of crisis communication, reputation repair, and organizational evaluation and learning (Coombs, pg. 45-46). Addressed in this phase are the financial costs and operational recovery of the crisis, as well as lawsuits for any injuries or deaths that may have