Spin Control
By Jack Bess
Long after
a construction-site accident scene has been secured, cleaned
up and brought back up to speed, contractors might still be reckoning
with some of the most resilient fallout - words.
Managing
the flow and accuracy of information broadcast live from the
scene and reported in the next day's newspapers is one of the
most critical tasks a company must undertake, particularly following
an accident on a high-profile project.
Think
fast, but be careful not to speak hastily, said Joan Zepecki,
director of corporate affairs for 
Hunzinger
Construction Co. in Brookfield. "Especially in these very
litigious times that we're in, to have employees who may not
understand the importance of being quoted in the press and giving
misrepresentations of what happened, there are huge ramifications
with insurance companies, injury reports and workmen's compensation
claims," Zepecki said.
If a contractor
has 750 workers on the site of an accident, there will likely
be 750 opinions about what happened that day, she said. Accordingly,
a contractor's first move in information management comes when
he secures the site and establishes who will be the representative
of the company to the press, she said. Still, even if you move
quickly, if the accident is of particular news value, you may
be confronted with a situation where reporters are doing end
runs around the official information sources.
"A
good example was the Miller Park tragedy," Zepecki said.
"That site was locked down so reporters couldn't get access
to people. But then some went around, making stuff up. They went
to the bar where ironworkers hung out and were interviewing people
willy-nilly. You'd see these drunken people being quoted on the
news."
Take control
In the
case of Miller Park, the stadium board "took control of
the situation" and had their media representatives holding
press conferences, Zepecki said. But smaller contracting firms
obviously can't draw on those resources and, should there ever
be an accident on one of their sites, they may find out the hard
way that dealing with the press is like walking a tightrope.
So much
depends on style as well as the actual words used, according
to Carl Heinlein, director of safety and health services for
the Associated General Contractors of America.
"If
you're going to give information to the media, be prepared,"
Heinlein said. "Don't rush yourself into giving this information.
Know what your story is. Remember who your audience is. Take
plenty of time to get your information out there. Be assertive,
especially if you're on TV. You have to be poised and calm that
you know what you're doing.
"Avoid
some of the buzzwords: 'We're not responsible for that.' Be careful
of the legal pitfalls that may come back to haunt you. Don't
come off pointing your fingers at others, but you don't want
to stand there and not say anything."
The best policy
Above
all, be accurate and thorough, Heinlein said. "The last
thing you want to have is half the information, because, God
forbid, if you get the information out there that is incorrect,
it may be heard by somebody's wife and children," he added.
Managing
publicity and information is of such interest now that the AGC
of Wisconsin wants to bring in a nationally known speaker to
give a presentation on the topic, said Jeff Hanthorn, director
of safety and environmental services at the AGC's Madison office.
Honesty
is the best policy when dealing with media, Hanthorn added. If
reporters are pressing for an answer on certain points, the spokesman
should stress that getting the most up-to-date and accurate information
takes time, which dovetails with the reporters own mission of
reporting the truth, he said.
The rumor mill
There's
a "higher potential for misinformation" when press
briefings aren't held, said Brian Mattmiller, a public information
specialist a the University of Wisconsin, which fielded media
calls in June when the Rennebohm Pharmacy Building being constructed
on the UW campus collapsed, injuring 10. In the aftermath of
that accident, there were numerous rumors floating around, but
"within minutes the rumor would be corrected" because
media inquiries were routed to designated spokespeople, he said.
So while reporters would ask about the rumors, the rumors went
unreported, he said.
Constant coverage
Adding
to the challenge of media management is the trend of reporting
high-profile accidents in "real time," meaning open-ended
coverage where cameras broadcast live and reporters must scramble
for information and interviews to help fill air time.
Kraemer
Brothers L.L.C., the Plain-based general contractor on the pharmacy
building, got a taste of what real time coverage is like. While
the accident site was secured and reporters were assembled at
a particular location, pictures were broadcast live for hours
courtesy of the news helicopters hovering above, said Thomas
Kraemer, company president.
While
university representatives handled the media presence at the
site, there was still a base that needed to be covered - the
Kraemer Brothers office itself. Two company officers handled
the deluge of reporters' calls while other office answered calls
from families of workers at the scene, Kraemer said.
As for
dealing with the press as a whole, the honest-and-open approach
worked very well, Kraemer said.
"On
a lot of cases where major accidents happen, the officers, the
top people in the corporation tend to hide because that seems
to be more easy than dealing with criticism in a public way,'
kraemer said. "I think most corporations are taught that
the thing to do is stall or send a person of lesser rank to talk
to the press or not answer their questions. When that happens,
everyone seems suspect in that company because they seem to be
not cooperating.
"We
took the position that we were going to cooperate and let people
know what was going on. It created a better atmosphere regarding
the whole incident. The public in general liked the way we handled
it and our desire to be open about it because in the first 48
hours, we had over 100 phone calls faxes in support from our
clients, architects, friends, neighbors and the public."
That approach
appeared to disarm any reporters who may have been tempted to
question the information provided by the spokespeople, Kraemer
said. "There are some people who tend to be overreaching
and aggressive, but once they sense that the people on our end
are attempting to cooperate as much as possible, that helps to
alleviate that overzealousness," he said.
