Knowing Your Audience Paper and Communication Release

Tragedy can happen anywhere, any time, and almost always unexpectedly. On one fateful day, tragedy struck a small copper mine located in San Jose, Chile. On August 5, 2010, there were 33 workers trapped 300 meters underground, for two months. After relentless search and rescue efforts, on October 13, 2010 all 33 workers were found alive and reunited with their loved ones. (Chile Mining Accident, 2011) In any situation like this, when disaster strikes, it is the company’s responsibility to contact and inform the employees and family members of the persons affected. There is no easy way to deliver this kind of news, and people often want immediate answers that may not be available. The company has to be prepared for any type of reactions, so communications must be made in the most careful manner possible. The miners family members will need to be considered when deciding how to deliver the news. They will have questions and concerns and will want them answered and addressed promptly. They will need compassion, empathy, and maybe even a whipping post. The deliverer needs to be prepared for them to lash out, place blame, cry, scream, or unload an arsenal of questions. These people are afraid that they will or already have lost their loved one, and that is not easy to accept. Employees have a tendency to bond with their coworkers. Many employees turn into lifelong friends, so when the company is notifying the remaining employees of the tragic events, they should display the same poise and compassion that they would offer the family. The company should also offer some sort of grief counseling services to both the families and employees, it will help them feel like they matter. In order to ensure that their message is received as intended, they need to prepare in advance what they will say and offer to the employees and family to help get them through the difficult time. The company needs to have the exact details of the events, where it took place, the names

References: Weik, J. (2010). Over 30 workers trapped after Chilean copper mine collapse. Metal Bulletin Daily, (224), 65. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Chile Mining Accident. (2011, October 12). - The New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2014, from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/chile_mining_accident_2 0/index.html