APPENDIX C
Pandemic Planning
The World Health Organization (WHO) has established six pandemic phases and related threat levels. (See Figure C-1.) This threat phase approach is similar to the Department of Home-land Security’s five terrorist threat levels.
Planning assumptions that are reasonable to use when developing plans to address a possible pandemic should include the following:
Remedies will not necessarily be readily available and may be in very limited supply; those in professions deemed critical, such as first responders and healthcare workers, will have first priority.
It is not unreasonable to expect a 30 percent to 40 percent, and perhaps even as high as 50 percent, absenteeism rate, not only among employees but also among contractors, suppliers, consultants, and community service and public safety workers.
Absenteeism may also result from fear or the need to care for children and/or elderly family members.
There may be erratic delivery of goods and services provided by suppliers, contractors, outsourcing companies, and consultants.
A pandemic may last as long as eighteen months in waves.
Gathering places such as shopping areas, schools, events, conference centers, and sports arenas will be closed.
| Inter-pandemic phase | Low risk of human cases | 1 |
| New virus in animals, no human cases | Higher risk of human cases | 2 |
| Pandemic alert | No or very limited human-to-human transmission | 3 |
| New virus causes human cases | Evidence of increased human-to-human transmission | 4 |
| Evidence of significant human-to-human transmission | 5 | |
| Pandemic | Efficient and sustained human-to-human transmission | 6 |
| Source: World Health Organization. |
Even if an employee population is healthy, a state or local agency could issue and enforce a quarantine that would last an undetermined length of time.
Based on the severity and breadth of a pandemic, travel could be limited or prohibited into and out of impacted areas.
Suggested actions include a wide range of strategies from stocking masks and gloves, to using videoconferencing rather than have employees travel to meetings, to developing plans to move employees to alternate work sites and developing the capability to have employees work from home.
As an initial step, establish with executive officers or the board what level of business activity they expect during a pandemic, be it business as usual or severely reduced operations. This information provides a benchmark for pandemic planning.
Establish a high-level planning group, including representation from the executive group, whose members can quickly make decisions and take immediate action if required to respond to pandemic threats.
Initiate or continue a program to train employees on how to help prevent the spread of germs and how to prepare their homes and families.
Some steps can be taken immediately to prepare, including the following:
Review business continuity plans for adequacy to respond to extreme numbers of employee absences.
Create checklists for each functional area of the company by pandemic phase. Create policies addressing visitors, travel, and compensation.
Develop a communications plan specifically for use should a pandemic occur.
Conduct tabletop exercises using a pandemic scenario.
Provide training for employees to help them prepare at home.
Keep executives briefed on progress of the planning and on updated pandemic information as it becomes available.
Develop an annex or a stand-alone section of the business continuity plan specifically to cover the pandemic threat.
Create a work-from-home strategy in the event quarantine is declared.
Determine whether suppliers, contractors, and other business partners have adequate pandemic response plans.
Possible additional actions for the immediate future might include:
Make sure that succession plans are adequate and current.
If not already in place, consider setting up work-at-home capabilities for the most time-critical employees. Supply them with necessary equipment and supplies, and install alternative broadband services at their residences.
Make web conferencing available to customers, suppliers, contractors, all business locations, and time-critical employees.
Develop redundancies in the event there are network outages.
Clean or change HVAC filters regularly; check manufacturer’s recommendations and make sure that what is currently being done is not less than that recommended.
Have kitchens and restrooms cleaned more frequently; check with cleaning staff or contractors to be certain they are using disinfectants.
A fully developed business continuity plan will likely cover many of these steps such as alternate work site, disaster communications capabilities, and determining supply chain preparedness.
Each threat level higher than Phase 3 signals the need for a review of the pandemic plan and the need for additional steps. Here are supplementary action lists specifically for pandemic threat Phase 4, Phase 5, and Phase 6.
Pandemic Phase 4—Evidence of Increased Human-to-Human Transmission
Develop and implement process for monitoring absences due to illness, and provide regular reports to the pandemic planning group.
Contact local public safety officials to become familiar with local preparedness measures.
Communicate to your employee population that the company has developed a planned response for responding to a pandemic should the company be directly impacted.
Develop special pandemic employee policies:
For paying employees who (1) are ill, (2) are needed at home to care for ill household members, (3) must stay at home to care for children due to forced or voluntary closures of schools and/or child care centers, (4) are afraid of possible exposure, (5) have no transportation, or (6) experience losses.
For paying employees should it be necessary to temporarily shut down a facility.
For limiting or discontinuing travel.
Stay-at-home requirement for employees returning from an infected area.
Review your employee assistance program to ensure availability of employee counseling should it be required.
Explore additional work-from-home capabilities.
Consider the impact of the pandemic on your supply chain and what additional pre-planning is necessary.
Require additional cross-training for functions identified as highly time-critical.
Request that cleaning crews clean nonporous services such as light switches and elevator buttons with a disinfectant solution and periodically use a disinfectant spray on chairs and desks.
Monitor to ensure that kitchens and restrooms are cleaned regularly with disinfectant and that HVAC filters are regularly cleaned or changed in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Provide training and written material for employees on how to prepare at home.
Ensure that key vendors and contractors have sufficient pandemic planning in place. As necessary, plan for alternate source for services and products.
Develop policies addressing visitors to offices, warehouses, and other facilities such as limiting or prohibiting access.
Determine if additional items should be addressed in an escalation plan, based on existing conditions and level of risk.
Pandemic Phase 5—Evidence of Significant Human-to-Human Transmission
Establish minimum staffing requirements for all locations.
Develop closing and reopening procedures for locations where acceptable staffing levels cannot be accomplished and/or where local officials order forced closings.
Use teleconferencing and video conferencing rather than in-person meetings between locations whenever possible.
Establish a comprehensive public relations plan to implement should it be necessary to close offices, manufacturing plants, warehouses, or other facilities.
Consider adjusting inventory levels.
Pandemic Phase 6—Efficient and Sustained Human-to-Human Transmission
Implement daily updates to outgoing messages on emergency phone lines or emergency notification systems to provide current status information to employees and others.
Check staffing daily; implement closing procedures for locations with insufficient staffing or where local authorities have ordered forced closings.