The College’s central Communications Division leads on communications during a major incident or crisis affecting the College. It supports both the College’s strategic and operational groups in the College’s response.

College Security should be contacted immediately if you become aware of an incident or issue that could pose a major threat to public safety and/or College operations.

Contact Security by: dialing 4444 from any College phone. Visit the Security website for campus-specific phone numbers. You can also contact them directly using the SafeZone app.

Contact the College’s communications staff in Communications:  

Duty Media Officer: 07803 886 248 [out of hours only]

Or

Press and Communications Manager: d.evanson@imperial.ac.uk / 020 7954 3921 / Teams chat [office hours]

When speaking to the Press and Communications Manager/Duty Media Officer, you should brief them with all the facts you have on hand about the issue. They will then be able to determine whether the College’s crisis management action plan should be triggered.

Please do not issue any communications yourself before speaking to the Press and Communications Manager/Duty Media Officer. They can help and you can refer media enquiries to them.

If the College’s crisis management action plan is triggered, the Gold and Silver groups will be assembled. Gold is the strategic-level group, which oversees the College's response. Silver is the operational-level group, which tackles the operational response to an incident. Together with Communications, these groups will manage the College’s response, engage with media, manage social media, and liaise with internal and external stakeholders.

Social media

If you are dealing with a difficult or sensitive issue on social media channels that you manage, or if you spot a situation brewing, you should contact the Communications team for advice: 

Digital Content and Social Media Manager: m.salhotra@imperial.ac.uk / 020 7594 6708 / Teams chat

The Digital Content and Social Media Manager will be able to advise you on next steps and advise how to manage the situation.

Once you brief the Digital Content and Social Media Manager, you should not do anything further unless you are asked to do so.

Issues management

For issues or incidents that may not be an immediate crisis but could still impact the College or your Department , you should contact the Communications team (also known as the ‘College comms team’), and they will be able to advise you on next steps. They will help formulate a plan and suitable response:

Press and Communications Manager: d.evanson@imperial.ac.uk / 020 7954 3921

or

Duty Media Officer: 07803 886 248 [out of hours only]

Do’s and Don’ts for crisis and issues management

DO contact Communications (‘College comms’) as soon as possible to brief them on the situation
DO provide Communications with as much detail as possible about the situation and any key contacts
DO follow any instructions given to you by Communications

DON’T attempt to manage the whole situation yourself. Help is available.
DON’T contact lots of different people – come straight to Communications in the first instance