As the consequences unfold of the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, the flow of information has become as critical as the movement of the oil slick. One firm’s web-based information management system is having some success in crisis communication for those affected and is gaining wider play among infrastructure managers as an employee-management and business-continuity tool.
Even with skepticism about the value and veracity of spill-related updates from platform owner BP and from some government sources, the Public Information Emergency Response (PIER) system allowed the U.S. Coast Guard and the oil company to very quickly launch deepwaterhorizonresponse.com, a website hosted by founder PIER Systems Inc., a Bellingham, Wash., crisis communications firm. The site, managed through the spill’s joint response team, has areas open to the public and media to obtain the latest news, videos, audio and photography, with other areas only for internal use, says PIER founder Gerald Baron.