Chile and BP: altogether different crisis management challenges

As we start to look back on the rescue of the Chilean miners, comparisons are being drawn between the crisis management approach to this incident and that of BP. The inference is that if BP had applied the same crisis management principles as Chile then they would not have suffered such enormous reputational damage. I absolutely endorse the view that Chile managed the rescue well, and BP managed its crisis badly. But to think that it would have been possible to transpose the Chile approach to BP and arrive at a postive outcome is much too simplistic.

Here are 5 reasons why:

1) BP’s crisis involved the deaths of eleven men: no one died in Chile. Imagine that eleven miners had died in the original mining incident: all of a sudden, the story and the crisis management challenge would have been very different.

2) BP’s crisis caused significant and very visible damage to the environment and wildlife: Chile’s caused none. After harm to people, damage to the environment is the second most emotive topic in a crisis. The only damage to the physical environment in Chile was underground.

3) BP’s crisis affected jobs and the economy: Chile’s did not. Whilst 33 Chilean miners have lost their jobs, it seems that there will be many alternative ways for them to make money in future. In the US thousands of ordinary people had their livelihoods threatened by the oil spill.

4) BP’s crisis got worse over time: Chile’s got better. As more and more oil leaked out and the impact became clearer, so BP’s crisis grew. The worst day for Chile was the day of the accident itself: once the miners were known to be safe and well, the news naturally began to get better.

5) The people factor: as any PR or media person will tell you, news is all about people. In BP’s case, the story was of the enormous harm that BP had done to many thousands of people in many different ways. It was by its very nature a negative story about the big company doing bad things to “small people”. In Chile, the people factor was, of course, the 33 miners and the heroic efforts of the rescuers to bring them up alive: it was a good news story of hope and the human spirit. The dynamic of the story was completely different and so the perception of the effectiveness of Chile’s crisis management is very different.

The rescue of the Chilean miners has been one of human endeavour and resilience. The global feelgood factor has relegated issues such as the safety record of the mine, its financial problems and the role of the government in failing to enforce better working conditions to a footnote.

Chile has indeed managed its crisis well. But let’s not pretend that it would have found it quite so easy to turn BP’s crisis into a good news story.