Over the past four decades, Franco Public Relations Group has developed crisis-communications recommendations for a wide range of clients and has continually renewed this advice as technology, business practices and threats to business operations have evolved. As a result of the September 11 attack, we have implemented a number of additional procedures in our own office to help us deal with any potential disaster.

Here are 18 specific actions that form a part of our crisis plan and that every business should consider in preparing for and responding to a large-scale disaster of the sort represented by the terrorist strikes:

1. Before a crisis strikes, institute a method of backing up your data off site. This may mean computerizing your office more extensively to minimize perishable paper documents. If you are unable to arrange for off-site backup, be sure you are backing up your computer files on tape in your office daily. Then give primary responsibility to one employee (and secondary to another) to take the latest backup tape with him or her during any future evacuation.

2. Institute your own disaster evacuation plan. Don't rely on your landlord to provide a method of evacuation that will apply to a severe crisis. Most building plans are developed to respond to fires, not explosions or other loss of structural integrity.

3. Have an evacuation drill and ensure every employee walks the entire path out of your building so each is familiar with the route. Keep the evacuation route fresh. Remodeling may close off a route, so ensure you know the revised path from your offices to outside the building.

4. Decide on a destination where employees will meet after evacuating, a spot that is far enough away from your building to ensure safety but that is walkable. This may be a local school, church, library, community center, park or other open facility.

5. Ask employees to keep their cell phones within easy reach, not in their cars. They should take the phones with them during an evacuation.

6. Provide a phone number for employees to call in a crisis to indicate where they are and if they are safe. Be sure the number is connected to either voice mail or an answering machine located outside your office. (In-office voice mail systems may be destroyed in a fire or explosion.) Ask employees to add this check-in number to the phone menu of their cell phones.

7. Arrange for travel itineraries (with phone numbers) for all staff to be stored in a central location not likely to be damaged during a crisis, such as a travel coordinator's Palm Pilot, an executive's home computer, or an Internet-based scheduling site like Yahoo Calendar. In this way a member of your staff can contact employees by phone or email after evacuating to alert the traveling staff to a crisis at home and/or to determine their well-being.

8. Work with police and fire officials to determine a location where family can obtain updates on missing and injured individuals.

9. Establish a location off site for news media to gather and receive regular briefings from your media spokesperson. Typically, that spokesperson should be the top officer of the company. Meet with the media as soon as possible. If they know you will be communicating quickly and often, they will be less aggressive in trying to gain access to the site and your people.

10. The well-being of you and your employees must take precedence over ANY business concern. Don't spend time evaluating the scope of a crisis (fire, explosion, flood) before taking action. Get your people out of the building and to a safe location immediately; then evaluate the situation.

11. Keep in mind the plight of your employees' families. Be compassionate and understanding. Set up a special communications plan for families of employees. They should not hear information for the first time through the media. Establish a system by which the top available officer of the company can phone family members directly. Or, if your company has multiple locations, equip several company facilities so that families can gather to receive an audio- or video-conference or, when practical, visits from top executives.

12. During a crisis, the top available officer of the company should be visible to ensure that all employees are safe, to communicate with rescue workers regarding those unaccounted for, and to be a representative before the news media.

13. Communicate early, often and openly with employees and the public. A crisis is not a time for "spin." But communicate only what you can verify. Don't speculate. And project a calm attitude. People want to feel someone is in control. Don't try to hide negative information. The futures of your employees, their families and their companies all may depend on your level of credibility during the crisis. So communicate all relevant and verified information, whether it is positive or negative. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to note when and where hope remains.

14. Don't try to do everything yourself. Set up a crisis response team consisting of executives from throughout your organization. These normally would be the top officers plus representatives from Human Resources, Community Relations, Legal, as well as both internal and outside public relations counselors. Outside counsel can help you put the crisis in perspective and can provide the additional staff required to organize and distribute your messages.

15. If your office is a branch location of a national organization, ensure that the highest-ranking available officer from national headquarters visits the scene and communicates with employees and the public as soon as it is practicable to do so.

16. Consider bringing in outside experts to assist in keeping employees safe and in returning your office to normal operations. These could include environmental engineers, safety officials and/or computer technicians.

17. Use your Web site to communicate information to employees and the public. It is less likely to become jammed than is your remaining phone service. If you host your own site, arrange in advance for a backup server that can at least temporarily host your site during the crisis. You only need to provide for a very basic site where you can post crisis-related information, but it must be accessible through your standard Internet address (URL).

18. After the crisis, if rebuilding is required, keep media and employees up to date on plans and progress. Gather employee input as plans are being formulated. You can rebuild, but will your employees return there to work? Their concerns should be an important aspect of the rebuilding plans.