Operational Crisis and Emergency Management

Crisis and Emergency Management is a five-day senior course delivered by Mars Training Centre UK in London, Geneva, Dubai, Istanbul and Bangkok — for senior managers, HSE leaders and operational directors responsible for an organisation's preparedness, response and recovery when something goes seriously wrong.

A crisis is not a bad day. A bad day can be managed inside the operational hierarchy. A crisis is the moment that hierarchy stops working — when the regulator is on the phone, the media is at the gate, the casualties are being counted, and the chief executive is trying to remember which of the three binders on the shelf is the current crisis manual. The work of crisis management is to make sure that moment is rehearsed long before it arrives.

Across five focused days you work through the architecture of credible crisis preparedness, examine how senior leaders behave in real crisis events, practise the decision-making and communication skills the role requires, and run a multi-stage simulated crisis under faculty observation. You leave with a personal action plan and a clearer view of where your organisation's preparedness needs sharpening.

What You Will Learn

• Distinguish incident, emergency and crisis — and explain why each requires a different response.
• Design a credible crisis management structure and reporting line for your organisation.
• Build a business impact analysis and a prioritised recovery plan.
• Lead a crisis management team through the first 24 hours of a major event.
• Apply a structured decision-making model under time pressure and incomplete information.
• Communicate with regulators, employees, media and customers during a live crisis.
• Coordinate with external emergency services and recovery contractors.
• Manage the personal pressure and stamina that crisis leadership requires.
• Conduct a credible post-crisis debrief that produces real organisational learning.
• Build a personal action plan for raising crisis preparedness in your organisation.

How You Will Benefit

You will leave with a working command of crisis preparedness and response, the personal stamina playbook senior crisis leaders use, and a Mars Certificate of Completion.

Your organisation will gain a more credible crisis structure, faster and better-coordinated response, sharper engagement with external stakeholders, and a deeper bench of leaders capable of taking the chair when the moment arrives.

Who This Programme Is For

The programme is designed for chief executives, managing directors and chief operating officers; HSE directors and managers; heads of business continuity and corporate security; operational and asset directors; communications and public-affairs directors; senior project, programme and transformation directors; and government and public-sector emergency planners. The seniority floor is director level and above, with operational accountability.

The simulation running through the week is deliberately uncomfortable: information arrives late, incomplete and occasionally wrong, and delegates are required to decide anyway. That is the condition crisis leadership is actually practised in, and rehearsing it in a classroom is considerably cheaper than rehearsing it live.