Emergency, Crisis, Continuity

These are commonly confused, which leads to one team trying to do all three badly.

Activity	Objective	Timescale
Emergency response	Save lives, contain the event, protect the environment and assets	Minutes to hours
Crisis management	Manage consequences: people, reputation, stakeholders, legal, strategic decisions	Hours to weeks
Business continuity	Maintain or restore critical activities	Hours to months

What makes an event a crisis

• It threatens something fundamental: lives, licence to operate, reputation, viability.
• It is ambiguous — the facts are incomplete and will change.
• It demands decisions faster than information arrives.
• It attracts attention from parties who are not under your control.

Note that a crisis need not involve an emergency. A product contamination, a data breach, a fraud, a fatality investigation or a serious allegation can all be crises with no fire and no casualties.