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Preparing for a workplace pandemic: Companies, agencies find continuity plans nothing to sneeze at(Tulsa World (OK) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 8--Flu season is upon us, and all fingers are crossed in the hope that any outbreaks won't be more serious than usual. Still, individuals and businesses are advised to be prepared now and in the future for the possibility of a deadly flu pandemic, similar to those that killed thousands of Americans in 1918, 1957 and 1968. The federal government, in particular, has been warning companies to develop specific plans to protect employees and maintain operations during an outbreak. But the message does not seem to be getting through. In a recent survey by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and the ERISA Industry Committee, 66 percent of respondents said their companies had not adequately planned to protect themselves; 14 percent said they had adequately planned; and 20 percent were undecided on whether their preparations were adequate. Some 39 percent believed there wasn't much a company could do to prepare, according to the survey. A pandemic is a global disease outbreak that occurs when a new influenza virus emerges and there is little or no immunity in the human population, according to a government Web site. As of Friday, a deadly strain of the bird flu had killed three children in Turkey, and it is believed to be the same H5N1 strain that has been reported in 142 other human cases since January 2004. Other countries that have been affected include Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and China. Calls to some local companies found that their pandemic plans run the gamut from no plans whatsoever to development of a plan. Some companies did not return calls. "Planning for a pandemic is not like planning for a natural disaster or a physical disaster," said Matt Sharpe, surveillance and response supervisor for the Tulsa City-County Health Department. "It's likely to be a large event, possibly nationwide, and it's not going to be a sharp, immediate recovery. It's going to be a long duration." The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that an avian flu pandemic could infect 30 percent of the U.S. population, 2 percent of whom would die, according to a news release from the Disability Management Employer Coalition, which also conducted its own flu survey last year. Also, economic costs could reach $675 billion and the economy would be plunged into a recession, the CBO said. The biggest thing businesses should be aware of is staff reduction, Sharpe said, noting that a pandemic could force as much as half a company's staff to miss work anywhere from two to eight weeks. In some cases, employees would have to stay home to take care of their children if schools were to close. Although most businesses have a preparedness or emergency disaster plan, they also should consider adding an appendix that addresses pandemic flu measures, he said. The health department is working on guidelines and may organize business education forums, possibly as soon as this month. "We're going to invite them (local companies) to come out to our facility or we will come to them and try to answer questions and provide them all the resources we have available to us," Sharpe said. Any continuity plan should identify a company's critical business activities as well as the core people and skills needed to keep the business operating so it can develop back-up plans for those activities, Sharpe said. "They really need to look at those policy issues and how they're going to continue to maintain their business," he said. "Is it in their best interest to keep their doors open during a pandemic if they have close interaction with the public? Or is it better to temporarily close and work through the Internet or through telephone lines? That varies from business to business. "Large employers have to consider the risk to the healthy employees if they have potentially sick employees coming in." Business plans also should have a communication component that makes it clear how to educate employees and make them aware of what is happening and what measures the business is taking to protect its workers, Sharpe said. "This will reduce fear and anxiety among the staff," he said. The health department itself is trying to identify resources that it would need to maintain during a pandemic, and also which staff members would require the most protection from getting sick, Sharpe said. "We're providing individuals within our work force the appropriate protective basics -- hand wipes, masks . . . signage," he said. State Farm Insurance Co. is taking the possibility of a flu pandemic seriously, said John Wiscaver, a local spokesman for the company. It is taking steps to be prepared, he said, including keeping associates informed on ways they can best protect themselves from getting the flu. State Farm has its own internal medical department that can provide information electronically, Wiscaver said. "We're working with all levels -- local and state government -- to monitor the situation and be as informed as we can in the event that we would have a flu outbreak. We do have some plans and procedures in place to protect the health of our associates," said Wiscaver, who did not provide specifics. Bank of Oklahoma is working on a written flu plan that it aims to have in place this month or by early February, said Larry Wagner, senior vice president of human resources for BOk. The first priority is the health and welfare of employees, he said. "We don't expect people to work sick, and we will lay out a contingency plan so we can keep operating, even if it is on a limited basis," Wagner said. Last month's water-main break and subsequent power failure, which affected about 130 downtown businesses and sent thousands of workers home, emphasized the importance of companies such as BOk having a disaster recovery plan of some sort, whether it relates directly to the flu or not. On a couple of occasions in the last few years, Williams Cos. Inc. has put its emergency plan into action, including last month. "Basically, we do have a very comprehensive disaster recovery plan that we have in place. It's not necessarily specific to any one type of event," said Kelly Swan, a spokesman for the Tulsa-based energy company. "While Tulsa is kind of the nerve center for Williams, almost all of our major operations in terms of our physical locations take place outside of Oklahoma, so it's a very diverse business," Swan said. At BOk, a disaster recovery team consists of people from each of the bank's departments, Wagner said. The bank goes through drills and has simulations, which paid off after the recent water-main break. BOk's flu plan aims to identify those departments that are critical to operations, such as tellers and many of the bank's back-office operations. "You've got to have people because even though we have ATMs and online banking, people still like to come in and do business with tellers," Wagner said. "Banks process huge volumes of paper and data that have to be done every day. It isn't an option. "It's not unlike when you and I go make a deposit. We expect that deposit to be in our account, and if it's not, it's a problem." As far as specific flu plans for American Airlines, a spokesman for the carrier simply referred to the Web site for the Air Transport Association. "We have people work with them as they develop information," said American spokesman Tim Wagner. The City of Tulsa Mayor's Citizen Corps can help businesses develop continuity plans, in general. For those interested in developing plans that are specific to the flu, the organization would want to work in conjunction with the health department, said Tim Lovell, public-private program manager for the corps and executive director of Tulsa Partners Inc. "The bottom line is that people need to develop preparedness plans . . . particularly with employees who are sick -- they need to stay home so that they don't spread the contagion," he said. "And businesses need to develop plans that take into consideration that a large number of their work force may be unavailable, and look at ways they can continue operations in that eventuality. We had promoted that among our partners last year when the flu vaccine supply was low," Lovell said. The Tulsa Citizen Corps was established to create a prepared community, to defend against natural and man-made disasters and to improve homeland security. More information about a flu pandemic is available at the Web site . In the interim, people should begin practicing good health habits, said Lovell, noting that at City Hall posters promoting hygiene have been placed in restrooms. In the event of a flu pandemic, the city of Tulsa would partially rely on information passed along by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help it handle the situation. "What has been talked about at this point is that you would want to do early aggressive detection and isolation surveillance," said Michael Bates, human resources director for the city. If the city knew there were a deadly flu strain among its employees, it would need to get the affected people out of the work force as quickly as possible, Bates said. According to its medical director, the city would set up a flu-testing isolation area. "We would be testing people to see if that was the strain," Bates said. Laurie Winslow 581-8466 ------------ Tips for addressing outbreak of influenza The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed a checklist for businesses to use when preparing a pandemic plan. Here are a few points from that list. * Identify a pandemic coordinator and a team with defined roles and responsibilities for preparedness and response planning. The planning process should include input from labor representatives. * Identify essential employees and other critical inputs such as raw materials, suppliers, subcontractor services and products, and logistics that are required to maintain business operations by location and function during a pandemic. * Determine potential impact of a pandemic on company business financials using multiple possible scenarios that affect different product lines and/or production sites. * Determine potential impact (quarantines, border closures, etc.) of a pandemic on business-related domestic and international travel. * Find up-to-date reliable pandemic information from community public health, emergency management and other sources and make sustainable links. * Establish an emergency communications plan and revise periodically. This plan includes identification of key contacts (with back-ups), chain of communications (including suppliers and customers) and processes for tracking and communicating business and employee status. * Implement an exercise or drill to test your plan, and revise the plan periodically. * Forecast and allow for employee absences during a pandemic due to factors such as personal illness, family member illness, community containment measures and quarantines, school and/or business closures, and public transportation closures. * Implement guidelines to modify the frequency and type of face-to-face contact (i.e. hand-shaking, seating in meetings, office layout, shared work stations) among employees and between workers and customers (refer to CDC recommendations). * Encourage and track annual influenza vaccinations for employees. * Establish policies for employee compensation and sick-leave absences unique to a pandemic (i.e. nonpunitive, liberal leave), including policies on when a previously ill person is no longer infectious and can return to work after illness. * Establish policies for flexible work site (such as telecommuting) and flexible work hours (including staggered shifts). * Anticipate employee fear and anxiety, rumors and misinformation, and plan communications accordingly. * Provide information for the at-home care of ill employees and family members. For the complete checklist, visit the Web site www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/pdf/businesschecklist.pdf. View in Print (PDF) Format |