A good crisis management plan becomes invaluable in the event of an emergency, as Kerr-McGee officials discovered in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Kerr-McGee, the energy and inorganic chemical company, has a long history of crisis management planning, adopting plans for its Oklahoma City headquarters and local sites across the globe. "It's very much part of our corporate culture," Tom Knight, manager of safety services, says of crisis planning. "It takes time to plant the seeds and let them grow."

About 10 years ago, Kerr-McGee began working with Crisis Management International, an Atlanta-based crisis consulting company, to formalize plans in the event tragedy should strike.

Tragedy hit home, literally, on April 19, 1995, when the Murrah Federal Building, located a block from Kerr-McGee headquarters, was bombed. The company's Humanitarian Response Team (HRT) quickly sprang into action, addressing the many issues that arose following the crisis.

Kerr-McGee employees worldwide are trained in HRT principles, and the company can call on external resources as required to respond to an individual event. The Humanitarian Response Program is tailored for each location, and their unique needs and culture. Training is ongoing, with online simulations quickly becoming the preferred training method for busy workers.

"An appropriate humanitarian response in the face of a crisis has become an expectation at the corporate level," says Knight.