Should businesses be preparing to protect themselves against the possibilities of a bird flu pandemic? What can be done to avoid disruption to the business? Should employers be accommodating to employees concerned about an outbreak, how seriously should they take requests to work from home? Can anything be learned from the 9/11 attack in New York in terms of business continuity? We asked the experts.
When the first human cases of Avian Flu rose in Asia, employees in these affected areas became anxious, in some cases, terrified. Anxiety and rumours spread just as the virus kept spreading, and people were dying. Young, healthy people. Asian operations of multinational companies raised the alarm to their corporate offices. Feeling the pressure, corporate head offices scrambled to try to resolve this ‘Asian’ problem.
Then the true nature of this threat began to sink in … this was not an Asian problem. This was a global problem the likes of which we have never had to prepare for before.
Whether the Avian Flu (H5N1) virus that is circulating today will become the next pandemic virus, is unknown, though it remains the greatest potential threat on the horizon.
What this means to companies is that both their personnel and operations will be at significant risk in a pandemic. The effects of SARS, though very limited from a health perspective, caused huge financial damage to those regions that were affected. Magnify this effect exponentially and you have the potential devastating effect of a pandemic.
This message is starting to hit home. Recent polls of multinational companies who participated in International SOS* webinars demonstrated that over 80% believe a pandemic is a very important or critical issue for their organisation, though only 36% of companies are now developing pandemic plans. This is an improvement, as five months ago that number was 16%. Still, the majority of companies are trying to understand the issues and figure out what they need to do to prepare themselves.
The challenge is that there is so much information available that it is difficult to sort out what is relevant and what is only ‘nice to know’. The other major challenge for companies is that a pandemic does not fit into their typical crisis management plan, nor does their SARS plan work.
A pandemic will affect all areas of your operation, for months to years. Your company’s pandemic team must consist of senior representatives of all major areas including Occupational Health and Safety, Human Resources, Business Continuity, Security, Operations, Finance and Medical. Getting all these people together on a global basis is also a logistical challenge.
There are three basic steps that a company needs to make to develop an effective pandemic plan.
The first step is to build a cross-functional pandemic team, with authority and educate them. Education includes a clear focus on the expected implications and impact of a pandemic. The second step is to build a pandemic plan that uses the WHO pandemic phases for triggers. The third is to implement the plan, test it, and monitor the global situation closely, being ready to respond to changing circumstances.
Many companies are now considering plans for ensuring employees do not come to work. How do I re-educate my staff so that the slightest cough keeps them home? How do I get hourly workers to stay at home? Do I pay them to stay at home?
These are questions now being answered. Companies also are evaluating whether they can actually ‘shut down’ their facilities during the wave. If they must stay operational, then who are the bare minimum staff (‘business critical’) necessary to keep the business running? Once you’ve identified them, how do you get them safely to work and keep the work environment as safe as possible? What is a safe work environment in a pandemic?
Clearly, an impending pandemic will have major occupational health issues. But advanced planning can lessen its impact. Once a company recognises a pandemic as a significant health threat, specific points can be addressed to prepare the workforce. Questions to consider include:
- What will we do to reduce transmission in the workplace? How do we identify infected people and what policies will we enact regarding attendance, isolation, etc?
- How will we react if someone becomes sick at work and the healthcare system is overwhelmed – can we care for sick employees?
- Who will maintain a safe working environment and OH&S standards if critical staff members or supervisors are absent?
- What methods of stress management will help staff members cope with extreme, prolonged anxiety and depression?
- How will we handle travellers and staff overseas?
