Your own employees have a role in the
communication process itself. This point
was driven home at an operation where
an old working face was having to be
reopened. A letter was prepared from the
quarry manager to all the relevant residents
and the response was not too dramatic. The
quarry manager did, however, receive two
or three telephone calls from a person living
close to this face who was concerned about
the impact it might have on their otherwise
peaceful existence. He went to meet this
person and explained what was happening,
why, and made a few promises about
working hours, noise, and so on.
He was, therefore, a bit troubled to
receive a message one afternoon that this
person wanted to see him at their house
before the end of the day. When he arrived
there, what he received was not an earful
but a hearty expression of gratitude. This
person was won over by a blunt quarry
manager doing what came naturally to him.
Yet, the story does spell out very clearly
two of the most basic axioms of good PR in
the quarrying industry: firstly, it is your own
people on the ground who should be your
first line of attack; and secondly, you cannot
beat face-to-face, one-on-one contact.
Lines of communication
Let us look now at how we open a few more
doors — most of the relationships between
quarries and their local communities can
best be described as an uneasy truce and
at worst, open warfare. Obviously, it is
difficult to be popular when you earn your
crust by ‘digging up the environment’, but
that should not prevent you from keeping
your essential lines of communication open
and building one or two bridges.
It really is not too difficult to establish a
dialogue with your key local communities
based on a sensible acceptance of one
another’s viewpoints and which operates
whether or not a major planning application
is on the offing.
Sometimes it is just a question of the
quarry manager getting to know one or two
key people on a casual basis. Perhaps he or
she can make an excavator available when
the village pond needs cleaning out or invite
the local school on an educational visit; or
perhaps it is just a question of having an
occasional drink at the local pub.
Many quarrying companies now operate
or participate in local committees. Such
committees really do break down barriers
and open up a dialogue which is to
everyone’s benefit. For instance, in the case
of one landfill site, they suffered outright
opposition from a local community. When
40_QUARRY SA| MARCH/APRIL 2019
Ntsako
INSIGHT
Aspasa director, Nico Pienaar.
“The story does, however, spell out very clearly two
of the most basic axioms of good PR in the quarrying
industry: firstly, it is your own people on the ground who
should be your first line of attack; and secondly, you
cannot beat face-to-face, one-on-one contact.”
they achieved permission, they set up a
liaison committee and quite deliberately
invited the most vociferous opponents
to sit on it, regardless of whether they
were councillors. Within three meetings,
everyone was on first-name terms.
And what about the local press? Few
managers in this industry exhibit anything
but hostility towards local journalists.
Certainly, local reporting standards are
not always high, but it is equally true
that quarrying companies rarely do
enough to overcome the bias and lack of
understanding of which they complain.
Very few companies initiate their own
positive press coverage, and then they
wonder why it is that the only headlines
they attract are negative ones. Why not
build a better long-term relationship with
the local newspapers by calling them to tell
them about restoration successes, important
supply projects, and school visits?
And, when the bad news inevitably does
come along, it is far better to say something
like: “Naturally, we are concerned and
investigating the circumstances.” That is
helpful and human without giving anything
away. Planning application time is when
surface mining operations inevitably make
headlines. Far too many companies still
simply sit back and wait for the outcry and
then wonder why their side of the case is not
appearing alongside the protestors’ views.
Would it not be better to compile a press
statement and then get into your vehicle
with a copy of the plans and go and talk
to the relevant journalists face-to-face?
Whatever they write about you should at
least be based on a proper understanding of
the facts. If television and radio are likely to
be involved, identify someone with the right
personality as a spokesperson and invest in
training in media techniques.
Do not assume, however, that the media
will necessarily report the story as you
might. They would not be doing their job if
they did. Display plans at the local village/
town hall, and do not forget to brief your
own employees. If you have primed them
properly at the outset, they should be useful
ambassadors. However, try to avoid public
meetings wherever you can, because it has
a nasty habit of becoming emotional and
that makes it the wrong forum in which to
achieve a fair hearing.
You might also consider using things like
videos as presentation form, emails, or the
Internet, which has several advantages over
other presentation techniques: it carries the
power and credibility of television, it allows
your case to be put in an imaginative and
consistent fashion (even when you are not
there), and, if done properly, it is easy to
understand.
At a public meeting, it might take 30
minutes to put across your proposals,
using plans which most people cannot
understand. With video, the case is made
succinct in perhaps 10 minutes and, because
it is highly visual, the information sticks.
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