I just watched a press conference about 6 trapped miners in Utah. This one press conference should be a case study in crisis management.

- The representative detailed the equipment and manpower that were being brought in to excavate the cave-in.

- A detailed accounting of mine personnel and rescue workers was provided

- A clear estimate of the distance required to excavate in order to get to the miners, and the time required to do that, along with the life support available to every miner. There was also a short but informative presentation on how gases build up in mines and why this mine does not have the level of gases that other mine disasters have had to deal with.

- The "representative" was the owner of the company that owns the mine. A couple of quotes, forcefully delivered, that caught my attention: "I worked underground for 10 years in the mines, and I’ve been trapped in mines" and "I take the saftey of my employees to bed with me every night, nothing is more important to this company" and "we have brought in the best safety and rescue professionals in the business, but we won’t know the outcome until it’s over".

Quite a contrast from the typical press conference you would see in an unfortunate event like this, where they are typically delivered by a PR person, have sanitized quotes, and lack specificity about things that aren’t completely obvious.