On Sunday, Canadian rocker Bryan Adams was scheduled to perform a concert at an arena in downtown Perth, Australia. The sold-out show was canceled hours after it was to begin due to a stopped-up sewer system. You might think there couldn’t be any crisis communications lessons in this, but you’d be wrong.

Authorities decided that the stoppage in a wastewater main just outside Perth Arena posed too great a risk of overflow to allow the music to flow. Roger Cook, premier of Western Australia, the state of which Perth is the capital, apologized but said the danger to public health was too great. “Of course we stand by the decision that was taken last night to make sure that we didn’t have a public-health incident as a result of this fatberg,” Cook said at a Monday outdoor presser, according to the Sky News Australia video.

(Fatberg — a new one to us — is, according to Dictionary.com, a portmanteau of fat and iceberg meaning “a solid lump in a sewer system consisting of waste that does not break down, as congealed cooking fat, cleansing wipes and cotton balls.”)

Crisis Prevention

The lesson here is that those in charge took appropriate precautions and acted in a way to prevent a potential health crisis. Those complaining about the Bryan Adams (pictured) concert being canceled would no doubt also be upset if people ended up being harmed. A big part of crisis communications is preventing crises whenever possible.

Cook used the presser to educate people about the importance of preventing such sewer blockages. “There’s only three p’s that should go down the toilet: your pee, your poo and your toilet paper,” he said. “Do not stick other items into the toilet because that’s what leads to the creation of fatbergs.”

Alas, there’s also a negative lesson here. Authorities took too long to make and communicate the decision to nix the show — they even had a warning in that, the day before, a fatberg was discovered in a wastewater main outside nearby Hollywood Private Hospital.

Clogged Communications

Sunday afternoon, workers were called to the concert venue, also known as RAC Arena, to deal with the crisis, but apparently couldn’t clear the clog in time. Communication was also clogged. It wasn’t until a half-hour after doors were to open (but didn’t) that attendees received a text about a potential problem, one fan told ABC News (as in Australian Broadcasting Corp.)

She said so many people were gathered outside, they couldn’t hear the loudspeaker announcements. The text message canceling the event came just after 9 p.m. The turned-away were understandably angry. “I really think the communication should have been a lot better,” the fan said. “They clearly knew there was an issue before this.” Indeed, more thought should have been given to the effect on concertgoers.

The booking agent said the show wouldn’t be rescheduled, but ticket holders will be refunded.

Photo Credit: L Paul Mann/Shutterstock.com

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