Preparing for a Pandemic Flu
The spread of avian flu among domesticated poultry and wild birds caused by the H5N1 influenza virus has health organizations warning of a worldwide outbreak of influenza, or pandemic. The H5N1 virus has spread from birds to poultry workers in Asia and parts of Africa with half of the cases fatal. The virus is especially virulent, people have little or no immunity to it, and it is being spread by worldwide migratory fowl routes. Health organizations are concerned that if the virus evolves and becomes able to jump from human to human, it could lead to devastating levels of illness and death worldwide.
Employers need to prepare now for a pandemic flu that could lead to a significant reduction of their workforce and a disruption to their business through halted or decreased supply, transportation, and purchasing. By preparing for continued operation now, businesses can protect their employees’ health and safety while decreasing the impact of what could be a devastating phenomenon.
Make a contingency plan for the impact of a pandemic on your business. Start with a planning coordinator and assemble a team that can work on your plan. For each of your locations, identify your essential employees and the critical raw materials, suppliers, sub-contractors, transporters, customers, and other logistics that keep your business functioning. Estimate what the impacts of a pandemic would be to your financials, the supply and demand for your product or services, and the restrictions on your movements and distribution due to limited travel or border closures. Develop relationships and make agreements now with your key contacts, including medical personnel, to prepare your response timing and methods.
Prepare an emergency contact plan for your employees, suppliers, and customers. Use backup communication methods such as radios, cell phones, and Web servers that can be used to spread information and instructions. Communicate your contingency plan to all of your employees and business contacts. Run drills and exercises to test your contingency plans, communication methods, and business recovery processes.
Consider what procedures you will use to protect worker health. In order to limit transmission of disease, develop guidelines to limit face to face contact at your business such as a hand-shaking policy, arranging meeting seating, overall office layout, etc. Circulate a hygiene policy with regard to handwashing and cough etiquette and provide plenty of tissues, soap, and disposal methods. Encourage your employees to get an annual influenza vaccination.
Define your leave policies now in case employees need time off for their own or family members’ illnesses; consider liberal and non-punitive leave policies for this type of emergency. Also establish your policies regarding employees that have been exposed to the flu, are suspected of being ill, or become ill. Create an infection control response and notification plan and prepare to require mandatory sick leave for anyone with the illness.
Train your employees on your contingency plan and how your business will react to a pandemic. Consider cross-training employees to allow for redundancy in skill sets. Prepare an ancillary workforce (e.g. contractors, employees in other job titles/descriptions, retirees) that can help keep your business functioning. Consider ways to decentralize the workforce with satellite worksites and at-home computer and communication links to the worksite to allow flexibility to those employees that can work.
Establish a monitoring plan to gauge the spread of the avian flu. Adjust your preparations and rate of response based on the spread of the disease. For more information on the avian flu, pandemic monitoring, and preparation checklists, visit http://www.pandemicflu.gov.
The above evaluations and/or recommendations are for general guidance only and should not be relied
upon for legal compliance purposes. They are based solely on the information provided to us and relate
only to those conditions specifically discussed. We do not make any warranty, expressed or implied, that your workplace is safe or healthful or that it complies with all laws, regulations or standards.
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