This international standard provides guidelines for crisis management to help organizations plan, establish, maintain, review and continually improve a strategic crisis management capability. These guidelines can help any organization to identify and manage a crisis. Elements for consideration include: – context, core concepts, principles, and challenges (clause 4) – developing an organization’s crisis management capability (clause 5) – crisis leadership (clause 6) – the challenges and complexities facing a crisis team in action (clause 7) – crisis communication (clause 8) – training, validation and learning from crises (clause 9) It is intended for top management with strategic responsibilities for the delivery of a crisis management capability in any organization. It is also meant to be used by those who operate under the direction of top management. All those with responsibilities should: – implement the crisis management plan and structures – maintain and assure the procedures associated with the capability This document acknowledges the relationship and interdependencies with various disciplines but is distinct from these topics.