Flu Pandemic

[abigails]

I read the article 'Flu pandemic still major risk to business continuity' on the UK site (Home Page - In the News).  I work for a company of about 100 employees and am not aware of any emergency proceedures in place for our business to continue  if half the work force is sick.  This leads me to ask if your company has any proceedures, what they are and who is responsible for activating them.  

Personally, if there was a flu pandemic, I am not sure that I would go to work as I would not risk the health of my two young kids.  Would you?

[raindance]

My company has business interuption procedures in place, which cover all sorts of risks from sabotage to terrorist threats and epidemics.  

I don't believe it is possible to plan in advance, and in detail, for every single eventuality.  If there is a flu pandemic, I will listen to the authorities at the time and also take my own, commonsense, view.

Raindance

[msmarieh]

While I agree that you can't plan for every contingency, I think there are broad categories of contingencies that you can plan for.

One would be if the building gets destroyed (fire, tornado, localized flooding, etc.)

A second would be if the building is ok, but the infrastructure is damaged (computer networks, phone networks, etc.)

A third would be if the building and infrastructure are ok, but the employees and local city are impacted (snow storm, epidemic, etc.).

A fourth would be if the geographic region beyond the business is also impacted (large scale terrorist threat, pandemic, extensive flooding, hurricane, etc.)

There are others of course. Using these broad categories, you can come up with general business continuity plans which would include a wide range of threats (manmade or natural).

There are lots of good resources out there. In the US, FEMA - the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Red Cross, Civil Preparedness, and other organizations stand available to offer guidance in preparing for those types of disasters.

However the bottom line with flu pandemics is that the effects may be widespread beyond the business. Schools would likely be shut down in an attempt to contain the spread, travel could theoretically be halted (since airline travel is a HUGE risk in a pandemic - witness the recent mumps outbreaks in various cities that were linked back to one traveller returning from overseas with the disease and traveling on a plane).

Although I wasn't, some of us might have been alive during the last pandemic in the late 1950s (which wasn't as severe anyway as the 1918 pandemic which killed 50 million people). In reality though, most people have gotten complacent and think it couldn't happen again. Although science has made MANY advances and COULD create a vaccine that would prevent the spread or virulence of the flu, the reality is that humans often underestimate the ability of Mother Nature to wreak major havoc and ignore our nice neat lines and boundaries. (Witness the Dec. 26 tsunami as an example).

It's good to be asking the questions "what if..." ahead of time and thinking about what your business would do. I don't think you need to become paranoid about it, but spending time in the planning stages can be literally a life saver later and also a real help financially and spiritually for the employees and business.

Marie

[countrigal]

Well, I must say that the VA in the US has taken this idea to the extreme (and that is either good or bad).  We just had a meeting for everyone in the building, and everyone was handed an "emergency kit" "only to be used in case of a flu pandemic".  This "kit" includes Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, what I consider a painter's mask (the little paper mask that fits over your nose and mouth) and that's about it.  We're to keep it at our desk, and pull it out and use it when told to.  Interesting concept... but come on.  Also feel like we're back in elemetary school -- signs are posted everywhere to remember to wash your hands -- to run them under running water for a minimum of 15 seconds with soap to ensure all the germs are washed away.  Just seems a little over-the-top, but what do I know?  But on top of this emergency kit, we have the traditional emergency recall policies in case of terrorists and such, which includes natural disasters and now health pandemics.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

[tiffanyctd]

CG,
I know what you mean, but on the other hand, we have a lot of people in our building that don't wash their hands very often (EEEWWWWW!). I go through tons of Clorox wipes and keep a bottle of hand sanitizer on my desk, too. And I NEVER was a germaphobe until I started working here!

[avaocps]

I heard last week on a news show that work hours would be staggered as well as bus and train schedules so that they would not be as crowded so the flu would not spread.

For those of you with kids and schedules to keep, I know this will be hard to change work hours.

[dettu]

My husband is a flu researcher (animals, not humans) and I always defer to him in such matters. His specific recommendations for avoiding flu, whether pandemic or just the kind that makes you so darned sick every winter and knocks you for a loop, are these:
1. Wash your hands FREQUENTLY with warm water and soap. I wash every time I go into the kitchen at work, including whenever I get coffee or tea. Fill my cup, then go to the sink and wash my hands. Same deal if I use the refrigerator, the microwave, any place my fellow employees touch a lot. With the recent uptick in norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships, I've become more conscious of germs in restaurants, so now I excuse myself to wash my hands after I've returned my menu to the waitress.
2. Do not eat out of communal dishes. This includes buffet dishes. During flu season I simply will not eat from a buffet. I bring my own lunch to work meetings. I just told everyone I'm on a special diet. Also: do NOT eat out of a candy dish, even if the candies are wrapped. Because everyone has had his/her hands in that dish! Ew! Same with people kindly bringing in homemade cookies, cake, etc. I just say no. Since he gave me this tip, I have had about 70% fewer colds and stomach viruses.
3. Get a flu shot. So if you were to contract bird flu, the doctors would know you didn't have human flu.

[diotima]

I worked in the deli in my local Sainsbury's (big supermarket chain in UK) for a while, and they sent me on a food handling course. They showed us how to wash our hands: wash palms and fingers as you do normally, but more thoroughly and vigorously; then do the same to the backs of your hands and fingers, then wash your thumbs. Rinse under running water and dry with paper towels; hot air driers are apparently a big source of germs.

If you shop in Sainsbury's, know that all deli staff have done this one-day food handling course! They taught us other stuff as well as handwashing :-)

[peana]

Living in London we often visit museums and galleries at the weekend.  What amazes me is the number of people who don't wash their hands after going to the toilet.  I really cringe when I see someone go straight from the cubicle to the exit, especially if I have to use the same door handle to get out.  It just disgusts me.  Similarly, the levels of germs on tubes and buses is pretty high, yet you see people eating food after touching the hand rails.  I always wash my hands as soon as possible after getting off public transport - hubby is worse than me and he carries hand wipes with him just in case.

What I can't believe is that our company still won't provide soap in the kitchens - I've been told to use the sinks in the toilets instead.  Ridiculous.  

[misslynn]

No soap in the kitchen??
I'm pretty paranoid about germs during flu season (but I haven't been sick yet this year!) here a couple of my habits:
-- I like wearing long-sleeved shirts, that way I can pull the sleeve down as a make-shift glove so my hand doesn't touch the door handles, shopping cart handles, basically anything that has been touched by a lot of people.
-- In the restroom, after I've washed my hands and I'm drying them with a towel, I use that towel to open the door and then toss it in the trash can.  I hate when the can is all the way across the room but usually it's close to the door.  Prevents me touching the same door handle that everyone who didn't wash their hands

[dettu]

ITA, misslynn. I do the thing with my sleeves too. And with the paper towel, I sometimes end up carrying it all the way back to my cube, but that's okay.

I also clean off my phone and keyboard a couple of times per week, since I know sometimes I handle those before I've washed my hands.

I used to work with an otherwise very nice woman who never washed her hands after using the toilet--at home or at work! She insisted that it didn't make any difference. Not surprisingly, she was out with stomach complaints at least once a month, sometimes more...I don't understand how a person can fail to see the connection.

[officeguru]

I use paper towels to open the doors as well.  And when I'm in a rest room that only has air dryers - I rarely use them.

My biggest obstacle is explaining to my kidlets (ages 9 & 13) why it's important to wash hands on a regular basis.  They just see it as something I nag them about just to nag.  *sigh*

[dettu]

My son (age 10) understood it when I put it this way: the germs that make you throw up are on everything you touch, so if you don't want to throw up, wash your hands before you eat and after using the bathroom.