A gas company employee following the letter of his training, but without exercising concurrent common sense, is charged with causing millions of dollars in damages. What can his employer say or do in his defense or defense of their employee?
So far, nothing, it seems. A check of the company's Website makes no mention of the incident, and the news story leaves the impression that the employee is turning slowly in the wind.
Here's a chance for the company to step forward to accept responsibility for its employee. The silence likely is because company attorneys know staff will be deposed and subpoenaed for the trial. Attorneys tend to approach incidents like this with a "say nothing" approach. Crisis communications counselors advise getting out with an appropriate message right away.
The first message delivered is the one remembered. All others have to try to dispute that message. If the gas company issued an apology and explanation of what happened, they would be in a better position in court. Judging by the comments posted on the newspaper comments to this article, the public has no sympathy for the company.
How's that gonna work for the company when it goes for a rate increase?
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