West Pharmaceutical Services is a $500 million public corporation that manufactures rubber components for drug vials and syringes. On January 29, 2003, a dust explosion at its Kinston, NC, plant, killed six and injured 38, including two firefighters that responded to the incident.

West’s media response was swift and skillful:

• It immediately issued a press statement and sent its CEO to the plant where he was interviewed by AP, CBS News, ABC News and the local media;
• Later, when speculation arose, West’s held a news conference to clear up confusion, letting the media know that criminal and terrorist activity had been ruled out and that the company was working with investigators to determine the cause of the blast;
• The company issued a constant stream of press statements explaining the efforts it was making to provide grief counseling, find affected workers new jobs and thanking rescue workers and doctors for their efforts; and
• West’s organized a community- and company-wide memorial service.

Throughout the crisis and its aftermath, media coverage of West’s was uniformly favorable or neutral. Unlike in other disasters involving big corporations, there were no media attacks. Two months after the disaster, West’s stock price was virtually unchanged.

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