Crisis teams mix English and Dutch terminology, and not everyone means the same thing by the same word. This glossary gives a short definition of each term plus its Dutch counterpart, organised by theme: methodology, escalation, communication, AI and regulation. Useful for anyone working with Dutch crisis organisations.
Methodology and decision-making
BOB decision model (Dutch: BOB-besluitmodel)
The meeting model used by Dutch crisis teams: Beeldvorming (building the picture: what do we know, what is fact and what is assumption), Oordeelsvorming (judgement: what does this mean for our objectives and dilemmas) and Besluitvorming (decision: which action do we choose and who carries it out). The discipline lies in not deciding before the picture is there, and not lingering in the picture when a decision is due.
Situation assessment (Dutch: beeldvorming)
The first phase of BOB: gathering facts and separating them explicitly from assumptions, noting source and time.
Sensemaking (Dutch: betekenisgeving)
One of the three objectives of crisis communication: giving people an interpretation by placing the event in a wider perspective. It answers the question "what does this mean for me, and how bad is this?"
Providing information (Dutch: informatievoorziening)
The second objective: accurate, timely and understandable information about what is happening and which processes are running.
Harm reduction (Dutch: schadebeperking)
The third objective: alerting people to threat or danger and giving them a course of action.
Actionable guidance (Dutch: handelingsperspectief)
A specific, executable instruction: close windows and doors, call this number, avoid this street, change your password. A crisis message without it raises anxiety instead of lowering it.
CERC model
Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication, an international framework from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with six principles: be first, be right, be credible, express empathy, promote action and show respect.
SCCT
Situational Crisis Communication Theory, developed by W. Timothy Coombs, linking the appropriate response strategy to the crisis type and to how far an organisation is held responsible.
Rings of involvement (Dutch: ringen van betrokkenheid)
Ordering audiences by how hard they are hit, from those directly affected in the innermost ring to the general public beyond. Media are never in the innermost ring. See the full article.
Risk communication (Dutch: risicocommunicatie)
Communication before an incident, aimed at awareness and resilience. Not the same as crisis communication, which takes place during and after the incident.
Escalation and crisis organisation
GRIP
Gecoördineerde Regionale Incidentbestrijdingsprocedure, the Dutch escalation ladder from GRIP 1 to GRIP 5. Not a statute: the term does not appear in the Dutch Safety Regions Act, but is set out in the regional crisis plans. See The GRIP structure and AI.
CoPI
Commando Plaats Incident, the on-scene command team coordinating source control at the site of the incident.
ROT
Regionaal Operationeel Team, the regional operational team handling operational coordination above the incident site. This term does appear in the Dutch Safety Regions Act.
RBT and GBT
Regionaal Beleidsteam and Gemeentelijk Beleidsteam: the regional and municipal policy teams, chaired respectively by the chair of the safety region and by the mayor.
NKC
Nationaal Kernteam Crisiscommunicatie, the national crisis communication core team acting as the information hub for Dutch central government during national crises.
Safety region (Dutch: veiligheidsregio)
A statutory partnership of municipalities and emergency services for disaster response and crisis management. The Netherlands has 25 of them.
On-call duty (Dutch: piket)
The standby arrangement making key staff reachable outside office hours.
Escalate and stand down (Dutch: opschalen en afschalen)
Raising or lowering the coordination level. Standing down is often forgotten in communication, while the end of a crisis needs communicating just as much as the beginning.
Communication products
Holding statement (Dutch: eerste bericht)
The first public message, intended to acknowledge quickly what is happening while the picture is still incomplete. It contains what has happened as far as known, what it means for people, what you are doing now, and when the next update comes.
Key message (Dutch: kernboodschap)
The single sentence that recurs in all communication and that is true for every audience.
Q&As (Dutch: vragen en antwoorden)
Prepared answers to the questions you expect, including the uncomfortable ones. Preferably in plain language, so they are also usable on the website and by the people answering the phones.
Plain language (Dutch: taalniveau B1)
In the Netherlands, B1 on the Common European Framework is the standard for government communication to the public: understood by roughly 95 per cent of the population. During a crisis it matters even more, because stress reduces reading comprehension.
Media handling (Dutch: woordvoering)
Answering press and public on behalf of the organisation, through a person appointed in advance.
Situational awareness (Dutch: omgevingsbeeld, omgevingsanalyse)
The picture of what is happening outside: which questions, rumours and emotions are circulating, and whether people know what to do. Situational awareness is an analysis, not a press clipping file.
Social listening (Dutch: sociale-mediamonitoring)
Systematically monitoring social media for signals around an incident. Delivers signals, not facts.
Status page (Dutch: statuspagina)
A public page with the current state of affairs and the time of the next update. Reduces pressure on phone lines and service desks.
NL-Alert
The Dutch public warning system with which government alerts people in a defined area directly on their phone, including a course of action.
Preparation and aftercare
Playbook (Dutch: draaiboek)
A scenario worked out in advance with roles, steps and example texts, so a team does not start from zero.
Drill, tabletop exercise (Dutch: crisisoefening)
A rehearsed crisis situation to accustom the team to pace, roles and dilemmas. Teams that exercise regularly come through a real crisis noticeably calmer.
BCM (Business Continuity Management)
The set of measures ensuring critical processes continue or recover quickly. Standardised in ISO 22301.
BIA (Business Impact Analysis)
The analysis determining per process how long it may be down and what the consequences are. The foundation under any continuity plan.
DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan)
The failover and recovery plan for IT facilities.
RTO and RPO
Recovery Time Objective (how quickly a process must be working again) and Recovery Point Objective (how much data loss is acceptable).
After-action review (Dutch: evaluatie en nazorg)
Systematically recording what went well and what did not, and feeding it back into the playbooks.
AI terminology
Hallucination (Dutch: AI-hallucinatie)
An AI system producing facts, figures or sources with confidence that do not exist. Especially dangerous during a crisis because people act on it. See the article on this.
Human in the loop (Dutch: menselijke tussenkomst, menselijke regie)
The principle that AI proposes and a person judges, decides and publishes. In crisis communication this is not caution but a condition: an algorithm cannot be held to account for a decision, a board member can.
Deepfake
Image or audio material manipulated with AI so it appears genuine. During a crisis it can be used to cloud the picture or put words in a leader's mouth.
Disinformation
Deliberately spread false information. To be distinguished from misinformation, shared without malicious intent by people who believe it is true.
Prompt
The instruction you give an AI assistant. In a crisis context: the more context is recorded in advance (organisation, tone of voice, crisis plan), the less you have to formulate during the crisis itself.
Retrieval
A technique where an AI system first fetches relevant documents and only then answers. It limits the risk of hallucination but does not remove it.
Regulation and reporting duties
GDPR (Dutch: AVG)
General Data Protection Regulation. Article 33 requires notification of a personal data breach to the supervisory authority without undue delay and at the latest within 72 hours of becoming aware, unless the breach is unlikely to result in a risk. Article 34 requires notification to the individuals themselves without undue delay where there is a high risk.
Dutch Cybersecurity Act (Dutch: Cyberbeveiligingswet)
The Dutch implementation of the European NIS2 Directive, in force since 15 August 2026. It requires organisations in designated sectors to file an early warning within 24 hours, a full notification within 72 hours and a final report within one month, through the central reporting point MijnNCSC.
Significant incident
Under the Dutch Cybersecurity Act: an incident that seriously disrupts service delivery, causes financial damage or could cause substantial damage at other organisations. Thresholds differ per sector.
CSIRT
Computer Security Incident Response Team, the sectoral team a cyber incident is routed to. A notification through MijnNCSC reaches both the CSIRT and the supervisory authority.
Wkkgz
The Dutch Healthcare Quality, Complaints and Disputes Act. It requires healthcare providers to report a serious adverse event to the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate without delay, and in any case within three working days of establishing it.
EU AI Act
European regulation classifying AI systems by risk. AI for classifying emergency calls, prioritising dispatch and medical triage falls under high risk (Annex III). See the article on the EU AI Act.
ISO 22301 and ISO 27001
International standards for business continuity management and information security respectively.
Sources
- Netherlands Institute for Public Safety (NIPV), Crisis communication within crisis management — definition and the three objectives. Accessed 22 September 2026.
- Dutch Safety Regions Act — regional operational team, regional policy team, regional crisis plan. Version in force from 12 June 2026.
- Dutch National Cyber Security Centre, reporting duties under the Cybersecurity Act — deadlines and reporting route. Accessed 22 September 2026.
- Health and Youth Care Inspectorate, reporting a serious adverse event (Wkkgz). Accessed 22 September 2026.
- Articles 33 and 34 of the General Data Protection Regulation.
About this article
Published by CrisisRadar B.V.
This article has been checked against primary sources: Dutch crisis management practice, European regulation and academic literature. The sources used are listed above, with dates. Spotted something that is wrong? Tell us; we will correct it and record the change. Read how we work on Editorial policy.
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