When pandemic breaks out what do you do?

There’s been a brief flurry of activity with one of our client organizations over the past 24 hours because a family member of an outsourced contractor was confirmed as a carrier of Influenza A/H1N1.

This has provided us with a useful opportunity to consider: “What do we do when we get the flu?”

Many pandemic plans (including the NHS’s plan) were written a couple of years ago so you may need to consider whether the actions that you thought you would take back then still apply in the light of experience and emerging information about the current virus – this is in any case best practice, and we have the luxury of time to reflect and consider options which might not have been the case when we wrote the plans.

The outcome of our machinations might be summarized as follows:

• It’s business as usual but we need to reassure staff and re-emphasise the hygiene messages (handwashing, hard surface cleaning and “catch it, bin it, kill it”).
• Staff should remain vigilant for symptoms of influenza like illnes (ILI) and call NHS Choices (or use the website algorithm) if they believe they have an ILI so they can be screened and if necessary issued with anti-virals.
• Managers should consider the impact of suddenly losing those staff linked to “case 1″ if they are invited to go into “voluntary isolation” en masse or indeed a related school closure affects childcare for a staff cluster.
• Any key person dependencies should be mitigated through shadowing and writing down desk procedures or other key information.

Official advice is that personal protective equipment (PPE) does not have to be issued unless staff are healthcare workers (HCW) or social care workers that are caring for probable or confirmed cases of H1N1. [Essentially "caring" means regular very close contact].

But what if an employee dies?

Of course this is all well and good from a manager’s perspective but for the frightened employee that read about the first swine flu death last Sunday and is now being told that they have to share a 6 hour round trip in a vehicle with someone who might have swine flu things might look different!

There’s certainly a case for a “hearts and minds” briefing face-to-face to help people understand the degree of risk and how they can reconcile or manage it in order that you can encourage as many people as possible to continue coming to work – at least for now – but it may only be a short time before people realise how much happier they would be in the truck with “case 1″ if they were wearing an FFP3 respirator…

As I’ve found when dealing with chemical weapons and radiation over the years, what people can’t see scares them – regardless of how much you talk about it but putting a mask and goggles on (or a seatbelt/motorcycle helmet) can do an awful lot to raise risk appetite!

@Veterus

Why is mitigation of fire risks important?

Fire risk is probably the most likely cause of a Business Disruption and statistically around 70% of businesses fail to recover from a major fire incident so it’s a good idea to understand how to mitigate the risks.

If that doesn’t grab you, as an employer you should also be aware of your legal responsibilities under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) which came into effect in October 2006.

To whom does this law apply?

The law applies to you if you are:

• responsible for business premises
• an employer or self-employed with business premises
• responsible for a part of a dwelling where that part is solely used for business purposes
• a charity or voluntary organisation
• a contractor with a degree of control over any premises
• providing accommodation for paying guests

What must I do to help my business and protect my staff?

A good starting point is to take a look at this simple 5 step risk assessment document provided by the Department for Commnitites and Local Government (DCLG):

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/pdf/151102.pdf

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Medical experts say practising good hygiene remains the most effective way for individuals to protect themselves and others from swine flu. You should always:

• Ensure everyone washes their hands regularly with soap and water.
• Clean surfaces regularly to get rid of germs.
• Use tissues to cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze.
• Place used tissues in a bin as soon as possible.

You can also prepare now in case the swine flu becomes widespread in the UK by:

• Establishing a network of “flu friends” consisting of friends and relatives who can help if you fall ill. They could, for example, collect medicines and other supplies for you, so you wouldn’t have to go out.
• Making sure that you have an adequate amount of cold and cough remedies in your medicine cupboard in case you or your family are affected by swine flu.

Keep an eye on this site for updates and insight.

We can also supply FFP3 respirators to individual and corporate clients.  Drop us a line if you’d like to pre-order, the factories are flat out and supplies are already taking months to arrive.

@Veterus 15 Jun 09