Critical Incident Response Guide

What are traumatic events and critical incidents?

Traumatic events and critical incidents cause overwhelming amounts of stress to employees. Examples of these include:

• An act of or threat of violence either by an employee, customer, or stranger, such as:
  • Gunfire at or near the workplace.
  • A bomb threat.
  • An angry and abusive client making threatening comments.
  • A medical emergency in which employees are first responders.
  • An onsite accident in which someone is severely injured or killed.
  • A natural disaster in which state agencies are significantly involved or impacted.
• An employee death with significant impact, such as:
  • A death that has news coverage.
  • A death of a central figure in the agency.
  • Multiple employee deaths within a short period of time.
  • A death of a long-term or well-known employee.
  • A suicide of an employee or family member.
• A scandal or public investigation that involves news coverage.
• Major layoffs or re-organization within a team or agency.

Impacts on employees

While each employee is unique, there are some common reactions to traumatic events and critical incidents, including:

• Numbness
• Disbelief
• Shock
• Helplessness
• Confusion
• Disorientation
• Horror
• Fear
• Anger

Responding to traumatic events or critical incidents

When traumatic events happen at work, we provide supervisors, managers, human resources personnel, and executive leaders with guidance on supporting the affected workplace. We provide grief, loss, and trauma information to you following a critical workplace incident or trauma. We also offer guidance on how to access your EAP services.

If you're dealing with traumatic events or critical incidents at work, request an HR & manager consultation or call us at 877-313-4455 for a Critical Incident Response consultation.

Knowing about a traumatic event at your workplace helps us prepare for outreach from employees accessing services because of the event. We recommend requesting support within three to 10 business days following a critical or traumatic event, as our services can be most helpful within this time frame.

How to deal with traumatic events as a manager or supervisor

Use the tips below to help you effectively lead your team during traumatic events or critical incidents.

Make the initial announcement. Consider how and to whom you make an announcement. Before announcing anything, consult with your human resources office, executive management, and communications teams.

In most situations, you should call or speak to the direct supervisor to determine who should make an announcement to the immediate work group. Remember those in the group who might be traveling for work or are in another office.

Typically, a general announcement follows the work group announcement. However, there might be situations where the event is already publicly known, indicating the need to make a general announcement sooner or without first making a workgroup announcement.

Communicate often and accurately. Employees will need information about the incident. You should try to get as much information as possible and share all appropriate information in a timely manner. Express your commitment to keeping staff up to date as much as possible.

Be aware of social media's impact and set appropriate guidelines if necessary. Stress the importance of information coming from one or two reliable and informed sources. For guidance, consult with executive management or your communications department.

Provide space and time. Provide a physical or virtual space where staff can meet and, if possible, keep it available throughout the day for coworkers and friends to gather and talk.  

It is important for staff to be able to share memories, discuss the situation, and spend time talking. Doing so does not waste time, as it helps staff cope with the shock and grief of the situation by openly expressing their feelings.

Model and normalize responses to grief. It is important that you take the time to allow for acknowledgment of loss and difficult feelings.

Some employees will be impacted more significantly than others and may want to take a break from work, end their workday, have some private time, or contact us. It is important to respect their needs as much as possible.

Practice self-care. It's important to take care of yourself while you support those who might be in crisis. Seeing others deal with trauma or crises can be stressful, so remember to practice self-care.

Access and use any available resources, including ours. Check out our self-serve resource library, which includes multiple self-care articles and videos.

Check in regularly. Meet with your staff regularly to build on the group's strengths and encourage your employees to support each other.

Check in with employees individually and privately. Ask how they are doing, discuss any concerns they may have, and ask about their needs. Be accessible, supportive, and caring.

Assess your employees' needs. The best way to determine if our Critical Incident Response is needed is to ask your employees about their needs directly. Grief is a natural response to loss, and group interventions are not always required or desired.

It is our protocol to have the workgroup's supervisor explain a debriefing to their staff and find out if they would like one. If only a couple of people would like it, an alternative is to have them contact us individually.

If the assessment indicates the need for Critical Incident Response, request an HR & manager consultation or call us at 877-313-4455.