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The speed of communication during a crisis can determine whether a company maintains control of its story or loses it to speculation and misinformation. Gerard Braud, crisis communications expert, joins host Victoria Meyer to share real-world insights from decades of experience in both journalism and the chemical industry, emphasizing the critical need for rapid, clear, and well-prepared communication when incidents occur. 


Together, they explore how chemical companies can build effective crisis communication strategies, prepare holding statements, tackle challenges like incomplete information and confidentiality, and leverage tools such as SituationHub to streamline the process. With practical examples and straightforward advice, Gerard and Victoria discuss why preparation on a “clear, sunny day” is essential to protect revenue, reputation, and brand in the face of crisis—highlighting what every chemical industry leader should know before the next incident hits the news. 


Learn more about these topics this week:
 
  • Inside the Mind of a Crisis Expert: Gerard Braud's career from his early days as a TV journalist to a crisis communications advisor for the industry. 
  • Redefining Crisis Response: why traditional, slow corporate communication puts companies at risk 
  • Mistakes Companies Make: what happens when companies don’t prepare 
  • The New Rules of Media Engagement 
  • Leadership on the Worst Day 

Killer Quote: "If you're not getting a statement out in under fifteen minutes, you're doing it all wrong. Be prepared on a clear, sunny day so you’re your best on your worst day." — Gerard Braud 

Other Links:
Managing Crisis Communications: How To Save Your Reputation With Gerard Braud 


00:00 Crisis Communications in Chemicals 

03:32 Streamlining Crisis Communications 

07:33 Crisis Communication Tool: SituationHub 

12:49 "Crisis Communication Holding Statement" 

15:04 App Privacy and HIPAA Compliance 

17:58 "Effective Media Training with Scripts" 

21:29 Crisis Communication Strategy Essentials 

25:29 Rethinking PR Quotes and Efficiency 

26:32 Manipulating Media with Built-In Quotes 

30:18 Engage, Share, Stay Tuned 


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What is The Chemical Show: Where Leaders Talk Business?

Looking to lead, grow, and stay ahead in the trillion-dollar global chemical industry? The Chemical Show - the #1 business podcast for the chemical industry - is your go-to resource for leadership insights, business strategies, and real-world lessons from the executives shaping the future of chemicals. Grow your knowledge, your network, and your impact.

Each week, you'll hear from executives from across the industry - from Fortune 50 to midsize to startups. You’ll hear how they're tacking today's challenges and opportunities, their origin story (what got them here!), how you can take and apply these lessons and insights to your own business and career.

We talk:
- Business Transformation
- Innovation
- Digitization of business
- Strategy
- Supply Chain
- and so much more

Founder and host Victoria King Meyer is an expert interviewer - who brings out the best in each guest. She gained her industry experience at leading companies, including Shell, LyondellBasell and Clariant. Today, she is a high-performance coach and advisor to business leaders in chemicals and energy, as well as the host of The Chemical Show podcast, and founder of The Chemical Summit.

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https://www.thechemicalshow.com
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Welcome to The Chemical Show, the
podcast where Chemical means business.

I'm your host, Victoria Meyer,
bringing you stories and insights

from leaders driving innovation and
growth across the chemical industry.

Each week we explore key trends,
real world challenges, and the

strategies that make an impact.

Let's get started.

Victoria: Chemicals means business.

So today I get have the opportunity
to speak with Gerard Braud who is

a crisis communications expert.

Um, if, if you've been in the
chemical industry for a while and

really almost industry, you know,
that there's a variety of incidents

that have been in the news and often
company response could be better.

And you know, I'd like to tell
people, you either control the

narrative and control the story, or
somebody is gonna make it up for you.

And in the case of the chemical
industry in particular, as we, you

know, as you guys know, within my target
audience here, Knowing that story,

telling our story is really critical.

So I am excited to have Gerard Braud
back on The Chemical Show here to

talk about crisis communications.

He was first on the Chemical Show.

Boy back in our early days, I'm
gonna link to that episode because

I'm sure there's still something
for you to learn from that.

Um, we're gonna kind of have
a refresh conversation talking

about how chemical companies and
leaders can be ready to respond.

So Gerard welcome to the Chemical Show.

Gerard: Hey, it's good to be back.

Nice to talk with you again.

Victoria: Absolutely.

So let's just start with
a little bit about you.

What is your origin story?

How did you get interest interested in
this field of crisis communications?

Gerard: Yeah.

My first career was
actually as a TV journalist.

I did a little newspaper,
but mostly 15 years in tv.

And the last 10 of those I was covering.

Mainly environmental issues.

And I was working first, uh, in
Baton Rouge, then in New Orleans.

So I had this massive industrial
corridor between Baton Rouge and

the mouth of the Mississippi River.

So I was covering environmental issues,
pollution issues, but of course I

was also the first one on the scene.

Every time there was a
fire and explosion release.

I have to deal with community
activists, I have to deal with.

All of the various
protests that would happen.

Greenpeace did a massive campaign down the
Mississippi River when I was a reporter,

and as I did my news reports every day
I would see people say things to me that

they should never say to anyone, things
they wouldn't say to their competitors.

They would say to me, holding the
microphone with a TV camera, recording

them and putting them on the air.

And I didn't, oh my gosh.

Didn't do it be mean or anything.

I just did it because that was my job.

I'm telling the story.

I ask a question, they answer it poorly.

So I started taking notes
about how people did.

Interviews so poorly and I started
building a curriculum for media training.

And when I left television, I was
doing a lot of media training and as

I would do the media training, my,
my chemical clients needed it to be

crisis communications media training.

Mm-hmm.

They weren't cutting ribbons or,
or doing some happy Pappy PR news.

They needed crisis communications.

And as I started doing that,
I started inventing new ways

to help them to be better.

So many people in media training teach
a spokesperson how to have three key

messages, and your first key message
is safety is our top priority and our

second key message, or our employees
are our greatest asset, and our third.

Key messages we give to the United Way,
and then there's fire and explosion and

they stand in front of a burning chemical
plant and say, safety is our top priority.

And I'm sitting there going,
clearly not sparky, because

I see flames over your head.

And well, employees are
our, our greatest asset.

Well.

Clearly not the ones who are dead today.

And it was just it.

It was comical to me and my real
cynic and it was just comical

how badly interviews went.

So I left tv, started doing media
training that went into writing crisis

communications plans, and then I started
building a a net a, a whole bunch of

Word documents that were pre-written
news releases so that we could get

people faster in crisis communications.

It's really about what you
do on a clear, sunny day.

To prepare for your worst day.

That means not just all the safety
stuff that you do, it has to

be the communications with your
employees, with the media, with your

community, and what has happened.

Now, we're coming 20th anniversary
of Facebook being launched

and companies still don't move
at the speed of social media.

So my goal has been to build systems and
to do training for the chemical industry.

Uh, so that.

They're, they're able to get a
statement out in three to five minutes

instead of three to five hours.

Wow.

I'm constantly fighting
this three to five hour.

It just gets me so mad every time
there's a big fire and explosion

somewhere to watch three to five hours
go by before a statement comes out.

Yeah.

So that's, that's my origin story to
where I am today as the evangelist to

prepare and to get statements out fast.

Victoria: Absolutely.

And that obviously led you
to launching Situation Hub.

Gerard: Yeah, situation
Hub is a software company.

I still consider it in startup phase,
but I'm now in my fifth we launched

during covid, and what Situation Hub
does I always see certain problems

and I'll go through 'em real fast, and
I wanted to fix these problems, so.

The crisis happens and
there's a lack of information.

You know, somebody may be able to call
into command center with a radio, but

too many organizations still rely on
a calling tree, and if you've ever

been on a calling tree, you repeat
yourself 10 times to 10 people, and

that slows the flow of information.

Additionally, the communications team,
if there is one, and the big companies

have communications teams, the small
wins have to have somebody else do it.

But.

The information to the communications
team doesn't get to them in time.

And then when it does get to them,
they have to write a news release.

And then after they spend 30 to 45 minutes
writing the news release, they take it

into a bunch of non-writers, engineers,
and they say, what do you think?

And those people tear it
they fight over commas.

They send it back for a second draft.

Second draft comes, they go
through a little bit more revision.

The third draft goes out in three
and a half hours pass, and what

I invented with Situation Hub is.

Log into a software system,
pick what your event is.

If it's a fire, choose fire.

If it's a spill, choose spill.

If a truck accident,
choose truck accident.

Workplace injury.

Choose workplace injury.

It feeds you questions.

It's, it's all about the brilliant
prompts that we wrote for it.

And as you answer the questions, it is
simultaneously writing the news release.

Once you finish answering the
questions, there's a little

button that says, alert team.

And that pushes a blast out
to a dozen of your critical.

Crisis communications team
members and brings them all

to a virtual situation room.

So now everybody in seconds,
minutes has situational awareness.

So from the flash point until
you answer the questions is.

Three to five minutes, depending on,
that's amazing how critical your vent is.

And the number of fatalities hit
that button that says Alert Team.

Everyone has instant access.

You read for correctness.

Nothing is written in prose.

Forget what your English
teacher taught you.

That's not what Situation Hub is.

Situation, hubs, writing like a
journalist, and it's just facts.

Just facts.

No nuance, no opinion, no putting
lipstick on the pig, as I like to say.

It covers.

Who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Without speculation, it
provides proper empathy.

And if it's all true, one
button puts it on the internet.

So now you can share that statement with
the media, with your employees, with

your community, and other stakeholders.

So that has been my passion project and I
actually invented it in my head 20 years

ago, but I didn't build it initially
because connectivity wasn't good enough.

Now with cell phones and connectivity.

There's almost no place you can go where
you're not getting some sort of a signal.

So Situation Hub is, you know, ideal
on a nice computer screen, but it works

well on your phone, works well anywhere.

And instead of carrying here,
I've, I've got one of my old

crisis communications plans here.

My gosh, that's what I, my right, that
was a hundred pre-written news releases.

That's a ream and a half paper.

So instead of.

Carrying all of that around, I
can give you a 26 page crisis

communications plan and instructions
on how to use Situation Hub.

And anybody anywhere in the world
can be doing crisis communications

at the speed of social media.

That first statement will be out in
five minutes or less if you practice

and do it right, and then you can have
a second statement with more details.

Within one hour.

So that's my passion.

Wow, that's

Victoria: really cool.

So, I mean, that's really amazing and
I think just the journey and of where

you've been since, even since we talked
the first time is pretty awesome.

gonna dial us back a little bit.

So you focus on helping companies
with crisis communications, like

what actually is a crisis or a
crisis communication situation?

When does it apply?

Gerard: So the best way to define it
is, is it something that will damage the

company's revenue, reputation, and brand
revenue First, reputation and brand.

So, I'm in the public relations field
and so many people in public relations

preach reputation management, and that's
why managers see PR as a soft skill.

You have to connect the dots and
realize that if your reputation is

damaged, it's gonna damage your revenue.

Uh, at this point in time, uh, I'll take
a risk at looking at a small controversy

that's in the news every day, right?

So, uh, we are what years?

This is 2025, and Donald Trump is
president of the United States.

That's this moment in time,
and Elon Musk is helping him,

and as Elon Musk does things.

Government.

He's hurting his brand.

He's doing reputation damage,
but as he does reputation damage,

because of his political views,
he's doing revenue damage.

His stock is down 40, 50%.

That's a crisis.

That's a corporate crisis for a
chemical person, it could be the fire,

it could be the spill, it could be.

An, an accident, a workplace
injury, fatality, any of those

day-to-day things that could happen.

But it can also be every
sort of natural disaster.

It can be weather, events,
hurricanes, freezes.

Uh, we constantly see along the, the
Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Coast that

hurricanes come in and damage facilities.

Causing releases.

yeah, all of that stuff can be a crisis.

You also have your, what I would call your
executive white collar type crisis bribes.

That on that sexual harassment.

But you can also have cyber events.

If you get cyber attack, that's a crisis.

If you have social media blow up in
your face, sometimes you post something

you think is pleasant on social media
and it creates a social media backlash.

So all of these things can be considered
a crisis Like one of my chemical

companies using Situation Hub logs
in there are more than 80 different

templates that they can choose and,
and if you go to situation hub.com

and go to the chemical page, at the
very bottom, you'll see little tabs

with all of the very different.

Things that could be a crisis.

And that's just a perfect to do a hit
list for yourself and see, geez, how

many of these things could happen to me?

How do we communicate quickly, uh, for

Victoria: so I think that's
super helpful and you've gone

through some of the scenarios.

So, uh, I'm gonna jump to, you
know, two of the things that

I personally see happening.

may be hamper communications.

In fact, it's, it's crisis communications,
it's non-crisis communications.

It's just communications of all
varieties across companies, chemical

companies, and other companies.

Is, um, first of all.

Incomplete information and this
belief or desire that if I just wait

a little bit longer, I have more
information and it's gonna be better.

then the second piece is this
view of I can't communicate

because I need to protect someone.

Someone is someone or a company, or
somebody's confidentiality and privacy.

How do you respond to that?

Gerard: First of all, you don't need
to know everything to say something,

saying something has happened and
we don't know all the details, but

when we know the details, we'll get
them to you is a good statement.

In public relations during a
crisis, you should put out something

that's called a holding statement.

I, in Situation Hub, it's listed
as a one first critical statement.

It's the first template that
shows up on the list of 80 vets.

It generates something that's going
to be about 10 to 15 sentences long

that says what the event is, what
time did it happen, where did it it.

It won't speculate on the cause.

There'll be a specific sentence
that says, members of the team

are still gathering information.

When we know more, we'll
pass it along to you.

It'll cover whether anybody's
dead, whether anybody's injured,

whether anybody's missing.

If necessary, it'll have an
empathy statement to admonish

the media not to believe.

Everything you see on social media,
it'll promise to do an update and it

promises to give more information and.

When this statement goes it reads 15
sentences are gonna be approximately

90 seconds in reading time.

This is something, you know,
if you're an old TV guy, 15

sentences sentence 90 seconds.

So with 90 seconds of information
given to the media, that gives

them 90 seconds of facts.

To say on the air rather than speculating.

When I used to show up at chemical
plants and there was no spokesperson.

We'd started doing live shots immediately.

I lived next to a chemical
plant when I grew up.

My dad works at the chemical plant.

I put myself through college
at the chemical plant.

I can speculate a better, a little
better than most of the other

reporters, but I was still forced to
speculate until someone gave me facts.

By giving a holding statement, a first
critical statement, you end the drama.

Of the speculation and they'll
repeat it over and over again

because you gave them that.

And then with Situation Hub, you
can go back into the app, you

create second statement that's
going to have more details.

And so you don't have to know everything.

But by the time you start creating
that second statement, let's say 20,

30 minutes has passed, you know a lot
more now regarding privacy issues,

in my app it is built to where.

It covers.

Fatality, uh, injuries missing people,
and it's built for mass casualty.

You can kill more than 20,
you can injure more than 20.

You can have more than 20 missing in this
news release, but it always gives you the

option to either give their name or not
give their name, to give their age or not

give their name to say what their injuries
are and not say what their injuries are

to say what hospital they're going to.

So you're able to not violate hipaa.

And I think the world became more
sensitive to HIPAA during covid

when, the, the internal lawyers all
said, you can't say Bob has covid.

That's a violation of of hipaa.

You can only say Bob's not at work today.

So the privacy issues are all
addressed in my software platform,

certainly, and if there are still
executives who think that's a problem.

They need to address it on a clear, sunny
day and not battle it out in the crisis

command center on the day of the crisis.

Victoria: Yeah.

Gerard: So much about what you do before
the event happens and, and you were

asking what crisis communications is.

You know, crisis communications
comes in two forms.

If an organization does something bad
and they try to cover it up and then the

story gets uncovered by a whistleblower

Victoria: or

Gerard: by an investigative
reporter, then you have to try to.

Put what I call lipstick on the pig.

It's an ugly pig putting lipstick on.

It doesn't make it any uglier, and
you have to do so much more work

to repair the revenue, reputation,
and, and brand on the back end.

My specialty, even though I do
some of that stuff, in fact,

I've got three clients right now.

It's just like this year has been crazy
with people wanting me to fix the broken.

What I don't really specialize in
is keeping it from ever breaking.

Don't let the crisis happen.

And if the crisis does
happen, hey, guess what?

We've got 80 plus news releases ready
to communicate in three to five minutes

so that you get ahead of the story.

And, and one other thing that's happening
is when companies use these scripts.

Traditionally a reporter would show up.

I know I always did that.

If nobody's talking to me, I go knock
on the trailer near chemical plant

and I interview whoever comes out.

So Bubba comes out in his t-shirt and
his overalls and I ask what happens?

And he says, well, I saw the
plant and blow it up real good.

And that actually happened to me.

I actually have a soundbite of
guys saying it blow up real good.

I used it a lot of my,
my training classes.

But then I'm talking to somebody
who doesn't have the facts.

Victoria: Yeah.

Now, Bubba

Gerard: today is on social
media, right, Bubba?

I don't even have to go knock on the door.

with Situation Hub, what I'm doing
now is I'm producing a script

and I'm training people to read
scripts in media training class.

When they read those scripts,
we're getting 50 to 75%.

Of what our spokespeople say, ending up
word for word in the final news story,

and they're quoting our spokespeople
four and five times on camera.

Therefore, they run out of time and
they don't have time to go find Bubba.

And if a TV story is 90 seconds long,
and I've produced a 92nd script.

Situation hub.

Hey, guess what?

I just wrote the reporter story.

Victoria: Mm-hmm.

And you and

Gerard: I were talking, uh,
previously about reporters today

are often very young veterans.

People like me aren't
in the business anymore.

They weren't paying us to stay in
the business and we went elsewhere.

But when these young reporters come in,
they have no background on chemicals.

They just think all chemicals are bad.

They don't realize how many chemicals
were in that, that the microphone

they're the cell phone, they're
holding all of the equipment they

use their closed, their automobile.

People are ignorant when it
comes to what our chemicals.

What are their good uses?

They immediately go to the
fear of what chemicals are.

So many reporters doing stories in
the chemical industry or ill-informed.

And then you and I were also
discussing how some of them are

just flat, lazy, and they want
you to do your homework for them.

Well, guess what kids?

I did your homework.

I wrote the term paper.

It's called a news release.

Here it is.

And now they're using 50 to
75% of everything We give 'em

word for word when we do it.

Victoria: Yeah.

Gerard: So in the big picture that
brings all of those pieces together.

Victoria: It's pretty amazing.

And as you noted, we were talking
about this, I mean, I've been

in a couple of articles recently
and, um, quite liberally quoted.

But again, if, if you give somebody.

Good, coherent, solid
information, they're gonna use it.

Then they don't have to create it.

'cause Yeah.

You know, ideally a reporter
should not be a creative writer.

They should be a reporter.

And that's, you know, ultimately in
times of crisis, uh, and even non-crisis.

We want accuracy in our reporting.

Absolutely.

What about Absolutely.

So, so Gerard the other thing I
see happening, maybe just inhibits

the whole time aspect of it.

and certainly I could see where
this is true with smaller companies

is not knowing, you know, kind of
the who's on first who gets to make

that, you know, approve the press
release, approve the statement, you

having that person ready to speak.

see that happening a lot or
has that been sorted out?

Gerard: No, it's never sorted out because
most people don't They, they wing it,

and when you wing it, you crash and burn.

So a crisis communications plan
is something that you write on

a clear, sunny day that outlines
everything that's gonna happen from

flashpoint to end of the news cycle.

Now sometimes that news cycle is
three or four hours, sometimes

it's 12 hours, sometimes it's 24.

Sometimes it stays and it's weeks
depending on what it is, and there

is a cadence that you have to follow.

But you also have to who's gonna gather
the information about the crisis?

Who's gonna share it?

How do you bring the team together?

What's the approval Who
are your spokespeople?

Because in the early moments
of the crisis, I can't send

a subject matter expert out.

I need to send a PR person out to read the
first statement because my main managers.

Need to be managing the
incident, not managing the media.

You know, I always said that about
Tony Hayward in the BP crisis, Tony

Hayward should have been managing the
business and, and the, the crisis of

the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Instead of being on camera every
day trying to manage the media

where he royally screwed up, lost
his job, damage to the revenue,

reputation, and grants even more so.

Picking spokespeople means you
need to have bench strength.

You need to know when to send out
a public relations spokesperson,

when to send out someone from
operations, subject matter expert.

Many companies think only the CEO
should speak and that we speak with

one voice, and it's my deep voice
because I'm the CEO and I'm old.

Victoria: Yeah,

Gerard: and no, that's not true because.

If that person messes up, who cleans
up their mistake, and I usually,

I, I long ago realized that the
CEO comes out for something that is

not a super high level crisis, then
it makes the crisis appear bigger.

But if there is empathy to be
conveyed, that's when you bring

out the big cheese, the CEO Got it.

Uh, prior to that, a
subject matter expert works.

So you've gotta have multiple people.

That you can turn to that
have all been trained.

It doesn't come easy.

Talking to the media is like no
other interview you will ever do,

and, and the questions are what?

Kill people, right?

Yeah.

You can come out and make a statement,
but it's your questions where you say

one wrong word and everything goes bad.

What I built into situation hub was
sentences that are bulletproof and

sentences in a statement that answer
questions before they get asked.

Yeah.

So for example, uh, a news release might
say, we can confirm there is one fatality.

Okay?

If you say that, you'll
be asked, who is it?

Or you're given their name,

Victoria: or the

Gerard: employee, contractor,
visitor, what was their age?

If my news release and situation hub
says, we can confirm there is one

fatality, however, we're not able to
release any additional information until

the next of can have been notified.

That extra second half of
the sentence takes away three

Victoria: Yeah.

So one of the things in here, okay, as A
non reporter, I was gonna say a non-media

person, and yet I consider myself a media
person at this point with my podcast in

the, the media business I'm building.

Right?

Um, but as a non reporter, I.

I, you know, just a lay person
when it comes to many of the news

releases, the articles and stuff.

I gotta be honest, I mean, like when they
say company spokesperson, blah, blah,

blah, said, oh heck, they said nothing.

Let's move along.

I'm actually, personally, I'm often
quite disappointed now in the immediate.

In the immediate moment.

You know what?

Yeah, absolutely.

There was an incident.

we are addressing it.

We can confirm that there was an incident
that that immediate confirmation.

Great.

But when three hours or six hours or
24 hours has gone on and it's still

well, company spokesperson, I'm like,

Gerard: so, so one of the problem,
I'm disappointed it's a reputation

Victoria: issue at that point.

For me,

Gerard: it's, it's a
public relations issue.

Right.

Okay.

Because it happens, it happens in PR
school, in college where they teach

you the old method of writing a news
release uh, always calls for a quote.

From a high level executive,
that's complete bs.

You don't have to track him down and, and
everybody writes these made up quotes, and

then it kills more time getting the guy to
say, can, can we say that you said this?

Then he's gonna rewrite what?

They said, he said that he
now wants to say differently.

Right.

And it just eats up time and, and
when I first rolled out Situation

Hub, that was actually one of the
things I got from PR people was,

well, there's no quote in here.

Every sentence is quotable.

And now that we're seeing companies
use situation have been a crisis

and they're pulling four and five
soundbites, not only are they're

pulling four and five soundbites
that the person read from the script.

They were pulling the same soundbites
from TV station to TV station to TV

station, and that was always because I
know there are certain catnip sort of

phrases that I put it in the statement.

I promise the reporter will use
it because as a reporter I was

trained to interview people.

Look for great quotes.

Once I have a quote, I have to
build a series of sentences to get

me to that quote, and then I have
to build a series of sentences

to transition out of that quote.

So what I'm doing in my script is
all of the transitions are built

in, all of the quotes are built in.

You don't have to have quotation
marks, a comma in Bob Smith's

name for it to be quoted.

They're going to quote a company
spokesperson said, or the company

said, just very generically.

Yeah.

The company said they would conduct
an investigation to find out what

happened, how it happened, and how
we keep it from happening again.

Mm.

That gets quoted every time.

Victoria: I know another

Gerard: statement that gets quoted
every time is we'd like to thank the

responders and members of the community.

Yeah.

All of my thank you statements
get quoted every time.

Victoria: Yeah, and,

Gerard: and there are so many,
there are so many catnip nuggets.

That I've built in, it
eliminates what you see.

And I'm glad you've seen this.

I'm glad you've called this out.

It is stupid.

It is insane when time is of the
essence and revenue, reputation,

and brand are on the line.

Why would you waste time getting
BS that no one believes Anyway?

And the other thing I want you to
notice is, is as all of us go forward,

everybody listening to this show and
watching this program take a shot.

Every morning when you hear someone
say, safety is our top priority.

I'm so tired of the phrase,
safety is our top priority,

or we're committed to safety.

It's not true.

'cause if you were, y'all wouldn't
be having the problem today.

Y'all wouldn't be on the CBS evening news
and the NBC nightly news and all the other

Victoria: Yeah, I, I'm with you on that.

I, um, I worked for Shelf
for a very long time.

A big part of my career and great company.

But it got to be where, well, you
know, well, let's start with safety.

Let's start with our results.

when it is a platitude.

It becomes a bit meaningless.

And I think that is, that's
the message that needs to be.

It is important.

We want everyone to go home safely
from work every day, be present safely.

Go home safely.

Absolutely.

No doubt about it, but it's used
in such a platitude kind of a

way that it loses its power.

it loses power.

So, so Gerard this has been really
good and, You know, if you were gonna

leave people with one message for,
you communications, what would it be?

Gerard: We live in the
age of social media.

If you are not getting a
statement out in under 15 minutes,

you're doing it all wrong.

And I would say that if you're not
doing what needs to be done on a clear,

sunny day to be your best on your worst
day, then you are missing the boat.

Chemicals can be handled safely every day.

They're used by consumers
every day, but on the day when

something goes wrong, no matter.

What your safety culture is, it's that
thing that goes wrong, that's often

beyond your control that creates a crisis.

That damages your revenue, reputation,
and brand, and I wanna make sure

that doesn't happen for you.

So Awesome.

It's all about preparation
and having the right tools in

Victoria: Cool.

That's great.

Gerard thank you so much for joining
me today on the Chemical Show.

Good seeing you.

Take care.

Absolutely, and thanks
everyone else for joining us.

Keep listening, keep following,
keep sharing, and we will

talk with you again soon.

Thanks for joining us
today on The Chemical Show.

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