Marsh Announces Crisis Management Unit

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, Dec. 4, 1:32 p.m. EST? Marsh Inc., the insurance broker and subsidiary of New York City-based Marsh and McLennan Companies, announced the establishment of a consulting unit for corporate crises.

The Human Impact Practice will be headed by psychologist Mark Braverman, who has been named senior vice president, human impacts leader for Marsh Crisis Consulting.

He is one of the founders and former president of the workplace consulting firm Crisis Management Group Inc. in Newton, Mass. The firm provides crisis management, policy development, training and organizational consulting to businesses and federal agencies.

Mr. Braverman was the founder of the Harvard Psychological Trauma Center and instructor at the Harvard Medical School. He is also the author of the book, "Preventing Workplace Violence."

Marsh said the purpose of the practice is to help clients address the effects of crises on employees, their families, members of the community and customers.

"Crises are an inevitable part of the corporate landscape," said Mr. Braverman in a statement. "During any crisis, the impact on the human side of business can be as damaging to an organization's ability to conduct day-to-day operations as a product recall."

The Human Impact Practice, which is part of Marsh's Crisis Consulting operations, is designed to help organizations set up human impact programs before a crisis happens.

"This is more than just good planning, it is a standard of corporate governance," said Mr. Braverman.

The firm said that recovery from a crisis may be incomplete without addressing its impact on people. Employees may not be focused and productive. They may not feel safe in the workplace. And they may have difficulty trusting the organization's leadership, said Marsh.

"Without effective crisis management the bond of trust between an organization's leadership and its employees can be broken," explained Mr. Braverman. "Once that happens it may never return. These concerns must be addressed in order to retain staff both immediately following a crisis and on a long-term basis.

Marsh said the Crisis Consulting Practice would provide a full range of crisis management services to corporations, educational institutions and government entities.

The services include:

? Helping companies assess their existing emergency response and business continuity plans.

? Integrating those plans with the organization's security, operations and crisis communications activities.

? Assessing the impact of crises on employees, customers, suppliers and communities.

? Conducting a full range of exercises to test clients' crisis readiness.

The practice's consultants have an average of 15 years of hands-on experience in crisis management, the broker said.

Marsh has had to deal with a personal corporate crisis in the wake of the World Trade Center attack, which took the lives of 295 company employees.

The corporation in reaction established the MMC Victims Relief Fund with an initial contribution from the firm of $10 million. The fund has received $4 million in additional donations. Another $10 million was contributed to extend company health benefits after MMC was the target of criticism from family members for not providing for the benefits.

Additional information on Marsh's Crisis Consulting Practice, its services and consultants can be found at www.marsh.com.

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Marsh Announces Crisis Management Unit

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