In the rich volcanic belt of south-west Ghana violence erupts near a gold mine operated by
one of the world’s largest resource companies. A civilian is shot dead in the skirmish,
property vandalised and workers attacked, leaving two with glass injuries. An angry mob
forms and the situation has the potential to escalate out of control, jeopardising production
at an operation that yields more than 18 tonnes of gold a year.
The crisis management team knows what to do. They have prepared for this type of
scenario. An incident is activated through the emqnet crisis management platform and
withing five minutes 43 personnel – from site teams to group executives – are notified. The
teams enact their crisis management response and withing 72 hours the incident is over and
normal operating conditions resume.
Preparation is key
It's no stroke of luck that a $34 billion company was able to rebound from potential disaster
largely unscathed. The enterprise had been training, planning and preparing for just such an
incident for years, with the most recent training exercises conducted one month prior to
activation. This meant that when confronted with a real-life incident, the group had the
capability to instantly enact their crisis response, following the well-rehearsed framework of
the emqnet platform.
A textbook response
With relevant personnel notified almost simultaneously upon incident activation, the
company was able to switch to crisis mode without delay. Situational awareness was
promptly established, and the event assigned a medium-level threat on the severity matrix.
The company recognised the urgent need to protect assets, staff and the broader
community, and resolved to immediately bolster security, liaising with local authorities and
the regional police commander to deploy more than 200 officers and put the military on
standby. The site was secured, night shift suspended, supplier traffic diversions established,
and contingencies made for employees remaining on site. Importantly, the management
team leveraged their stakeholder relationships, reaching out to local village chiefs to
negotiate with agitated youths. The situation was defused, and the mine was back to full
operation just 72 hours after activation on emqnet.
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