Pandemic Influenza A Business Impact Analysis

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Pandemic Influenza A Business Impact Analysis
RSM McGladrey, Inc. is a member firm of RSM
International an affiliation of separate and
independent legal entities.
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The only thing more difficult than pandemic
planning is going to be explaining why you did
not do it! -- Marja Esveld Healthcare
Inspectorate, Netherlands
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Pandemic A Slow Motion Train Wreck

• History tells that many times we have been
  scourged by widespread infectious diseases, some
  have been pushed back by Health Practices and
  Medical Technologies, yet even then we see
  periodic outbreaks on such a scale to be called
  Pandemics.
• Some variations cause what we term seasonal flu,
  harvesting a quarter million souls, world wide.
  Some variations pass almost unnoticed.

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Pandemic A Slow Motion Train Wreck

• Every once in a while a variety emerges that is a
  monster, decimating the human race, as it did in
  1918.
• We are now faced with a strain of Avian
  Influenza, H5N1 that has all the hallmarks of
  making a significant impact on human history.
• The straight truth is that we are no better
  prepared than we were in 1918, and a whole lot
  more vulnerable. The best we can do is prepare
  for the worst and hope for the best.
• We have nowhere to run!

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Impact on the Business Community
"All the other catastrophes we've had in the
world in recent years at the very most put screen
doors on our borders. This incident will shut a
six-inch steel door, Dr. Michael
Osterholm "You're just going to have to be
strong enough to keep your head down for a
year, Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group
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We Are Overdue!

• Communicable disease experts predict that another
  pandemic will occur although the timing and
  pattern will be unpredictable
• There is no way to prevent a pandemic from
  occurring

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Pandemic Influenza What can we expect?

• High absenteeism
• Challenges getting to/from worksite
• Psychological impacts on workforce will be
  extreme
• Social distancing efforts may dramatically change
  hours of operation or close businesses
  temporarily
• Economic losses small businesses at greatest
  risk

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Pandemic Influenza What can we expect?

• A Pandemic of even moderate intensity will bring
  the global business community to its knees
  many business will never recover.
• It will not be business as usual. The disruption
  of global supply chains, loss of outsourced
  supplies, development processes and
  manufacturing the collapse of export markets
  will be the downside of Globalization.
• Every Wal-Mart store will be stripped clean in a
  matter of weeks.

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Pandemic Influenza Reality Check

• Business Continuity Planning
• Very few have pandemic flu response plans in
  place
• Human Resources Management
• Generally no policies or plans addressing impact
  of pandemic flu
• Communications
• Need for accurate, consistent, up-to-date
  information and a means to deliver it

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Preparing your Organization for a Pandemic
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Pulling It Together
In preparing for battle I have always found that
plans are useless, but planning is
indispensable Dwight D Eisenhower No plan
survives contact with the enemy Moltke
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Pandemic Incident Response Plan

• BCP/DR focuses on loss of FACILITY!
• Pandemic Incident Response Plan focuses on loss
  of PEOPLE!
• BCP/DR assumes adequate staff is available for
  recovery
• Pandemic Incident Response Plan assumes high
  levels of employee absence
• The buildings and computers are still working,
  there just isnt any people to do the work!

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Pandemic Influenza Planning Assumptions

• 15 of the workforce is absent for 8 weeks
  because school closures oblige working parents to
  stay home and look after children. Note that this
  proportion will vary according the particular
  workforce.
• 40 of those remaining at work become ill at some
  time during the 8 weeks of the first pandemic
  wave.
• The workplace attack wave will mimic the pattern
  that is expected in the general population.
• Every person who becomes ill has a minimum of 7
  shifts off work.
• There is a 100 relational absence rate that
  is, for every person in the remaining workforce
  who gets ill, another will not come to work
  because of the need to look after a sick spouse
  or children, or a disinclination to travel or
  work.
• 3 of workers who become ill from pandemic
  infection will die.

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The 5 step plan for Pandemic Incident Response
Planning

• Plan development stage Plan for it
• Monitoring stage Keep an eye on it
• Pre-Pandemic preparation stage React to it
• Pandemic stage Manage it
• Post Pandemic stage Recover from it

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The 5 step plan for Pandemic Incident Response
Planning
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1 Plan Development Stage (Plan for it)

• Appoint a Divisional Representatives to report
  conformity to policies.
• Develop a means to actively communicate timely
  information to all employees.
• Continue to revise all continuity plans.
• Distribute information kits to all personnel.
• Develop secondary sources of supplies.
• Stockpile critical components/Accumulate cash
  reserves.
• Review and relax sick leave policies.
• Consider re-tasking existing resources as needed.
• Modify facilities/workplaces to comply to
  recommendations.
• Inform Stakeholders and management of progress.
• Maintain a policy of Robustness and Flexibility
  in planning.

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The 5 step plan for Pandemic Incident Response
Planning
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2 Monitoring Stage (Keep an eye on it)

• Division Representatives report conformity to
  policies and suspected or confirmed infections.
• Distribute gloves, masks and hand sanitizer to
  workforce.
• Begin recommended Work Force Policies.
• Operationalize Telecommuting.
• Secure Financial Resources.
• Monitor Supply Chains and Product/Service
  Demands.
• Keep workforce actively informed of progress.
• Review existing plans and modify to conform with
  accumulated experience.
• Notify State and Local Authorities of State of
  Readiness.

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The 5 step plan for Pandemic Incident Response
Planning
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3 Pre-Pandemic Preparation Stage (React
to it)

• Division Representatives report conformity to
  policies and suspected or confirmed infections
  daily.
• Disperse workforce and maintain functionality
  remotely.
• Reduce facility workforce to essential functions.
• Provide support for displaced workforce.
• Adjust production to compensate for
  displacements.
• Collapse hierarchical management chains.
• Maintain close working relationships with
  community leaders and State and Local Authorities.

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The 5 step plan for Pandemic Incident Response
Planning
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4 Pandemic Stage (Manage it)

• Division Representatives report conformity to
  policies and suspected or confirmed infections
  daily.
• Increase Facility Security.
• Begin Lockdown Procedures.
• Maintain Essential Internal Functions.
• Inform State and Local Authorities of Operational
  Levels.

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The 5 step plan for Pandemic Incident Response
Planning
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Recovery!

• ?

Its Up to You!
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Essential Elements of Pandemic Planning
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1.1 Plan for the impact of a pandemic on your
business

• Identify a pandemic coordinator and/or 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 (e.g. raw materials, suppliers,
  sub-contractor services/ products, and logistics)
  required to maintain business operations by
  location and function during a pandemic.
• Train and prepare ancillary workforce (e.g.
  contractors, employees in other job
  titles/descriptions, retirees).
• Develop and plan for scenarios likely to result
  in an increase or decrease in demand for your
  products and/or services during a pandemic (e.g.
  effect of restriction on mass gatherings, need
  for hygiene supplies).

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• 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 of a pandemic on
  business-related domestic and international
  travel (e.g. quarantines, border closures).
• 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/drill to test your plan,
  and revise periodically.

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"Without constant practice, the officers will be
nervous and undecided when mustering for battle
without constant practice, the general will be
wavering and irresolute when the crisis is at
hand. Sun Tzu The Art of War
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1.2 Plan for the impact of a pandemic on your
employees and customers

• 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 (e.g. hand-shaking,
  seating in meetings, office layout, shared
  workstations) among employees and between
  employees and customers (refer to CDC
  recommendations).
• Encourage and track annual influenza vaccination
  for employees.

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• Evaluate employee access to and availability of
  healthcare services during a pandemic, and
  improve services as needed.
• Evaluate employee access to and availability of
  mental health and social services during a
  pandemic, including corporate, community, and
  faith-based resources, and improve services as
  needed.
• Identify employees and key customers with special
  needs, and incorporate the requirements of such
  persons into your preparedness plan.

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1.3 Establish policies to be implemented during a
pandemic

• Establish policies for employee compensation and
  sick-leave absences unique to a pandemic (e.g.
  non-punitive, 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 worksite (e.g.
  telecommuting) and flexible work hours (e.g.
  staggered shifts).
• Establish policies for preventing influenza
  spread at the worksite (e.g. promoting
  respiratory hygiene/ cough etiquette, and prompt
  exclusion of people with influenza symptoms).

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• Establish policies for employees who have been
  exposed to pandemic influenza, are suspected to
  be ill, or become ill at the worksite (e.g.
  infection control response, immediate mandatory
  sick leave).
• Establish policies for restricting travel to
  affected geographic areas (consider both domestic
  and international sites), evacuating employees
  working in or near an affected area when an
  outbreak begins, and guidance for employees
  returning from affected areas (refer to CDC
  travel recommendations).
• Set up authorities, triggers, and procedures for
  activating and terminating the companys response
  plan, altering business operations (e.g. shutting
  down operations in affected areas), and
  transferring business knowledge to key employees.
  

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1.4 Allocate resources to protect your employees
and customers during a pandemic

• Provide sufficient and accessible infection
  control supplies (e.g. hand-hygiene products,
  tissues and receptacles for their disposal) in
  all business locations.
• Enhance communications and information technology
  infrastructures as needed to support employee
  telecommuting and remote customer access.
• Ensure availability of medical consultation and
  advice for emergency response.

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• Provide information for the at-home care of ill
  employees and family members.
• Develop platforms (e.g. hotlines, dedicated
  websites) for communicating pandemic status and
  actions to employees, vendors, suppliers, and
  customers inside and outside the worksite in a
  consistent and timely way, including redundancies
  in the emergency contact system.
• Identify community sources for timely and
  accurate pandemic information (domestic and
  international) and resources for obtaining
  counter-measures (e.g. vaccines and antivirals).

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1.5 Communicate to and educate your employees

• Develop and disseminate programs and materials
  covering pandemic fundamentals (e.g. signs and
  symptoms of influenza, modes of transmission),
  personal and family protection and response
  strategies (e.g. hand hygiene, coughing/sneezing
  etiquette, contingency plans).
• Anticipate employee fear and anxiety, rumors and
  misinformation and plan communications
  accordingly.
• Ensure that communications are culturally and
  linguistically appropriate.
• Disseminate information to employees about your
  pandemic preparedness and response plan.

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1.6 Coordinate with external organizations and
help your community

• Collaborate with insurers, health plans, and
  major local healthcare facilities to share your
  pandemic plans and understand their capabilities
  and plans.
• Collaborate with federal, state, and local public
  health agencies and/or emergency responders to
  participate in their planning processes, share
  your pandemic plans, and understand their
  capabilities and plans.
• Collaborate with federal, state, and local public
  health agencies and/or emergency responders to
  participate in their planning processes, share
  your pandemic plans, and understand their
  capabilities and plans.
• Share best practices with other businesses in
  your communities, chambers of commerce, and
  associations to improve community response
  efforts.

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Are You Prepared?

• Essential services will be severely disrupted due
  to absenteeism
• Media and public scrutiny will be intense and
  unrelenting
• There will be NO OUTSIDE ASSISTANCE available!
• We will be facing this basically ALONE!

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The only thing more difficult than pandemic
planning is going to be explaining why you did
not do it! -- Marja Esveld Healthcare
Inspectorate, Netherlands
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RSM McGladrey, Inc. is a member firm of RSM
International an affiliation of separate and
independent legal entities.