Crisis Communication Starts Before the Crisis

A free crisis communication checklist for businesses, NGOs, communes and public institutions in Luxembourg

In October 2026, the government began sending “Mon Guide – 72H d’autonomie” to every household in Luxembourg to help people manage the first 72 hours of an emergency. Organisations need a similar plan for how they will inform employees, customers, beneficiaries and partners.

A crisis doesn’t have to be a blackout or a flood. For communications and CSR teams, it can just as easily be a data breach, a product recall or a public accusation that your environmental or social claims are misleading.

In those first hours, your team shouldn’t be deciding from scratch who speaks, what to say or which channels to use. Employees need to know what to do. Customers and partners need reliable updates. And the campaign scheduled for that morning may need to be paused.

Organisations that prepare in advance can respond faster, communicate more clearly and protect the trust they have built.

What the checklist covers

10 practical steps in three stages:

• Prepare before the crisis: build your crisis communication team, identify likely scenarios and map the stakeholders who could be affected.
• Plan your communication roadmap: set up approval procedures, backup channels and pre-approved message templates, then document your plan and test it with a simulation.
• Respond, update and recover: activate your plan, communicate responsibly during the first 72 hours and beyond, and learn from the experience.

The checklist also includes an emergency message template and five questions to check before sending any crisis message.