Handling a Hazmat Situation

Knightdale McDonald’s Reacts to Hazardous Materials in the Restaurant

By Audrey Beckett

Examples of crisis public relations in our area are always noteworthy topics for this blog. Watching organizations communicate when they are forced to deal with bad press is an important indicator of the quality of their public relations. This past weekend a McDonald’s franchise in Knightdale, N.C., faced an unexpected PR challenge when 31 people were exposed to an unknown hazardous material in the restaurant around 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8. Six of those individuals were taken to local hospitals after having minor reactions such as burning eyes, nose and mouth.

The hazardous materials team from Raleigh Fire Department, Knightdale police, and firefighters and EMS personnel all responded to the situation. Authorities closed the store while searching for the source of the problem. They were unable to identify anything wrong with the store and allowed it to reopen at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. As of early Monday morning, authorities were still unsure of the cause or the identification of the material.

Thus far, McDonald’s response has been appropriate and praiseworthy. Franchise owner, Gary Thill released a statement on Sunday afternoon explaining that his business’ primary concern was the safety of customers and employees. He expressed that McDonald’s worked with authorities to investigate and emphasized that nothing was wrong with the restaurant’s air quality or ventilation system. He ended by assuring people the investigation will continue.

The statement was clearly directed by good PR counsel. Thill covered all the important crisis communication bases: he was honest and transparent about the situation, he emphasized the positives by letting people know no fault was found with the restaurant and indicated his restaurant would continue to investigate, reassuring people that he was taking the situation seriously and wouldn’t risk the health of his workers or customers.

Having good public relations in the immediate aftermath of a crisis is crucial and the Knightdale McDonald’s has done well with this. However, effective crisis communication requires that an organization continue to deal with the situation. Time will tell whether or not McDonald’s handles this crisis well.