Avoiding Business Closed: Your ABCs of Pandemic Planning When Half of Your Staff is Out

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The Swine Flu / H1N1 influenza A arrived on the scene suddenly during this past Spring. The flu and pandemic information became the leading news story for several weeks and then slowly disappeared to an occasional fill story. As the virus evolves in the southern hemisphere, it is possible that a major and severe outbreak can occur this Fall/Winter and again next Spring as H1N1 continues to mutate.

Regardless of the pandemic, its level, or its severity, there are several key areas that your business should review to assess your preparedness. The five areas below, as suggested by the WHO and DHS, are not all-inclusive but will give your business a good base on which to compliment your other recovery, continuity, security, management, and HR plans.

Planning and Coordination - Provide leadership and coordination to multiple resources to mitigate the business, societal, and economic impacts.

1. Conduct a threat and risk assessment to determine your exposures and the business impact
2. Review your business resiliency plans and adjust or create where needed
3. Anticipate a mushroom effect with no preparation time and a long recovery time, possibly 6-8 weeks
4. Evaluate alternative work arrangements and locations and begin to cross-train employees
5. Anticipate supply chain and distribution channel reductions or interruptions
6. Forecast reductions and workforce impacts of up to 40%
7. Understand your HVAC system and know how to confine the air handlers
8. Gather all contact information for employees, suppliers, distributors, etc.

Situation Monitoring and Assessment - Actively monitor and assess the evolving pandemic and its impacts and mitigation measures.

1. Identify employees and key customers with special needs
2. Test your continuity plans to ensure they will work when activated
3. Establish and communicate policy changes regarding compensation and sick-leave absences that are unique to a pandemic
4. Establish and communicate policy changes for flexible worksite/hours, exposed employees, evacuations, and returning employees
5. Identify community sources for timely and accurate information and resources for obtaining counter-measures (e.g. vaccine and antiviral)
6. Understand that if you are seeing workforce reductions your key suppliers (e.g. utilities) and customers are most likely seeing the same

Communications - Continue providing updates to the public and all stakeholders on the state of the pandemic and your measures to mitigate the risk

1. Establish a central point for all incoming and outgoing messages
2. Be open, honest, and proactive with all communications
3. Ensure that languages and cultures are identified and correct
4. Prevent and correct rumors
5. Draft different but similar communication updates to the public, employees, suppliers, distributors, shareholders, etc. to prevent mixed messages and other communication errors
6. Anticipate communication method changes (e.g. no e-mail access from home)
7. Be specific and consistent from your initial communication through the post-event summary

Reducing the Spread of Disease - Implement individual, societal, and pharmaceutical measures

1. Provide workplace cleaning and infection-control supplies throughout all your facilities
2. Educate employees on the importance of hand washing and using the cleaning supplies
3. Use keyboard covers with shared computers and wipe them between uses
4. Reduce the frequency of face-to-face communications
5. Anticipate workforce reductions: building quarantine, bus stoppage, illness, parental issues
a. Ohio will close schools and daycares if an outbreak occurs; the CDC had recommended a 14 day closure. The same closure may be mandated by locality.
6. Educate employees on home protection and planning

Continuity of Healthcare Provision - Implement contingency plans for health systems at all levels

1. Identify the symptoms and educate your employees
2. Evaluate employee leave policies and adjust for the situation
3. Educate employees on their healthcare, mental health, counseling, and/or social services benefits and options
4. Assure employees regarding illness absences, quarantines, public transportation closures, etc.
5. Provide information for the at-home care of ill employees and family members

More information is available from the WHO, DHS, CDC, and State websites and general Internet searches. You can also request additional information or submit questions to Planning@TPComps.com.

Reference: On June 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the H1N1 pandemic alert to a 6, the highest rank. The pandemic level is not a measure of its severity, but they can be related. As of this writing (June 22, 2009), the statistics fir H1N1 are: 99 countries with 52,160 confirmed cases and 231 deaths worldwide; 19 states with 21,449 confirmed and probable cases and 87 deaths in the US; 129 confirmed and probable cases and 0 deaths in Ohio. (On May 01 the numbers were 11 countries with 331 confirmed cases and 9 deaths worldwide; 19 states with 141 confirmed cases and 1 death in the US; and 5 confirmed and probable cases in Ohio.) Despite these increased numbers, the severity of the pandemic has remained moderate. Even though the severity may be moderate, an outbreak that can affect 80% of the population will have significant business impacts.