Swine flu appears to be over, so what did we learn from a risk management perspective?
Not enough, I’m afraid.
The H1N1 flu “has largely run its course,” according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Margaret Chan, who announced on Aug. 10 that the virus has moved into a post-pandemic phase.
Despite the potential damage that a pandemic virus, like H1NI, can inflict on people, institutions, and businesses, my sense is that the vast majority of U.S. organizations remain ill-prepared to handle what global public-health experts view as a high probability: The world will contend with a highly damaging pandemic at some point in the coming years.
I suppose this reflects an inherent “human nature” challenge. Most of us tend to favor sticks and straw rather than investing in bricks. Of course, when the wolf huffs and puffs, those of us in flimsier structures immediately regret our shortsightedness.
Well, the H1N1 virus – the deaths it caused not withstanding – turned out to be more of a lamb than a wolf in the context of global pandemics. Yet, this fortunate turn of events should not deter companies from reviewing the strength of their current BCM programs.
The building blocks of an effective BCM program are not prohibitively expensive – especially not in our current area of heightened risk management awareness. Here is a high-level pandemic planning checklist, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to help you get started:
I researched and wrote a “Management Accounting Guideline” (MAG) on business continuity management (BCM) for CMA-Canada four years ago. Since then, I have kept current several subscriptions to BCM and disaster recovery publications. The most common problem identified in this literature remains concerning: the lack of attention that business continuity planning/management receives as a strategic priority.
1. Plan for the impact of a pandemic on your business. Understand how the workforce might be disrupted during a pandemic. Employees may become ill. Or nbajerseys's Blog, they may need to stay home sick family members – or even healthy children in the event of school closures.
2. Plan for the impact of a pandemic on your employees and customers: Unlike other disasters (with the exception of some forms of bioterrorism), pandemics are unique in that they are infections and jump from person to person through coughing, sneezing, and touching. Examine the principles of “social distancing” – steps designed to limit close contact between people to prevent or reduce the spread of the virus. The CDC advises companies to consider restrictions on large meetings and, where possible, to rely on telecommuting.
3. Establish policies to be implemented during a pandemic. Revisit sick-leave policies and related rules. For example, HR departments that normally require a sick note to support an extended absence should reconsider that rule in the event of a pandemic, when doctors will be overloaded.
4. Allocate resources to protect your employees and customers during a pandemic. For example, if telecommuting is offered as an alternative work arrangement, ensure that the supporting processes and technologies are in place.
5. Communicate to and educate your employees. It is important that employees know the following: whether they should come to work, how they should protect themselves, and the current state of affairs in the business.
6. Coordination with emergency-response officials at local public agencies: No matter how large a company is or how many different regions it operates in, it will deal with different emergency responders in each of the communities in which it operates. ###
Related：
没有评论:
发表评论