PCM as done by Virgin Trains - an example for the military?
After many years of viewing these boards, and having noted a consistent theme amongst the regular posters about how 'things should be done' in the aftermath of an incident involving the loss of an aircraft or the death or serious injury of one of our number, I was wondering how you all feel about the manner in which Sir Richard Branson is handling the aftermath of yesterday's Virgin Train crash in Cumbria?
In contrast to the near-hysterical paranoid secrecy of our chain of command whenever a military aircraft is involved in a crash, Sir Richard Branson is on the scene, acting as the PCMIO, and the manner in which he is fielding the questions from the press is nothing short of exemplary. Key actors have been named less than 12 hours after the fact, and the whole mood of the coverage on Sky News right now is supportive, sympathetic and informative.
And before anyone claims that military and commercial accidents occur in different spheres and cannot be compared - I would argue that the general public is, if anything, far more concerned and more critical of the rail operators in this country than they would be of the military.
And yet the manner in which we, as a corporate entity, handle the release of bad news, our old-fashioned attitudes towards the primacy of informing the next-of-kin before all others (which, though well-intentined, is utterly impractical these days), and finally the blind faith the system places in the idea the truth can only be discovered by a board of inquiry which invariably only publishes years after the incident, are all very negative aspects of our PCM doctrine which actually causes the military to appear in an unfavourable light, and actually exacerbates the suffering and anguish that follows any incident within our community.
Without wishing to re-open any wounds (and I have some of my own), I wonder whether you agree?