The term “crisis” can have different meanings to different persons or organisations. A crisis for one company could start when their share price plummets due to activities outside of their control. Confidence in the company’s abilities may reduce as a consequence, which may, in turn, lead to demise in their ability to trade. This could be seen an opportunity to other companies to turn the situation to their advantage. Similarly, a crisis may appear not to be an immediate problem but could swiftly lead to one. For example, a leaking tap in a museum basement may not be deemed to be a crisis but when major works of art happen to be stored nearby, and could be subjected to water damage, then this could be judged to be a potential crisis.

There are many forms of definition for a crisis with no single definition deemed to be the correct one. A crisis can derive from a single incident or event, from a number of events working together or against each other, or from a change in externally created conditions. It may be slow building or instantaneous or may not even be apparent for some time. Consequently, planning for every conceivable form of crisis is likely to be extremely difficult to do, so there is merit in assessing the type of threat that an organisation is more likely to face.

By preparing a crisis management plan, an organisation will gain a very detailed understanding of the threats and corresponding risks that face its business, its vulnerabilities to certain types of risk, and the level of resilience it can introduce by adopting a framework, such as that proposed in this Code.    

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