A Model Bioevent Emergency Response and Recovery Plan for Employers

1
A Model Bioevent Emergency Response and Recovery
Planfor Employers

• Jeffrey Tanenbaum, Nixon Peabody LLP
• Allyce Kimerling, Staff Counsel, Cal/OSHA

2
Policy and Procedure Development and Adoption

• Legal obligations
• Consistent with contractual obligations, other
  policies
• Appropriate changes to other policies
• Satisfied collective bargaining obligations
• Notice to employees
• Included new policy in employee handbook
• Effective training on the new policy
• Protecting third parties on premises

3
Essential Elements

• Identification of person(s) with responsibility
  and authority
• Establish response team
• Education and training of all employees
• Prevention
• Risk factors
• Symptoms
• Policy and procedures
• Drills and practice
• Obtain current and pertinent information during
  an outbreak

4
Essential Elements contd

• Emergency communication systems
• Coordinate with public health officials and
  emergency personnel
• Prevention
• Hand washing protocols
• Hand washing facilities and supplies
• Non-water based hand sanitizers
• First aid kit supplies
• Respirators?

5
Essential Elements contd

• Prevention contd
• PPE
• Gloves?
• Gowns?
• Other?
• Medical issues
• Mandatory reporting of symptoms?
• Screening
• Vaccinations?

6
Essential Elements contd

• Prevention contd
• Isolation/Quarantine
• Mandatory sick leave?
• Removal from work?
• Travel restrictions
• Contamination protocols

7
Staffing Issues

• Identification of critical, emergency staff
• Contingent/supplemental staff
• Alternative workplace issues
• Telecommuting
• Travel restrictions
• Leave of absence
• Benefit programs

8
Staffing Issues contd

• Available health care resources
• Return to work protocols
• Workplace security issues

9
Community Service

• How can employees protect themselves and their
  families at home?
• What services and/or supplies do you have that
  will be needed in the community and how will
  you provide them?
• Coordination with other area or industry employer
  groups and/or community based organizations?

10
Policy Implementation

• Have you reviewed each case or outbreak on its
  own meritsincluding but not limited to the
  following factors?
• Guidance provided by the CDC, WHO, local public
  health authorities and other government
  authorities and medical experts
• The seriousness of the illness
• The ease, or lack thereof, of transmission of the
  illness in your workplace environment

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Policy Implementation contd

• The likelihood that the employee in question was
  exposed
• The availability of medical screening tools
• The availability of a vaccine and (a) whether the
  potentially exposed employee was vaccinated and
  (b) whether it is medically and legally
  advisable for other employees to be vaccinated

12
Policy Implementation contd

• Whether there are feasible steps that can be
  taken to minimize or prevent transmission in the
  workplace (hand washing, disinfecting work
  surfaces, surgical masks, etc.)
• Whether it is feasible and sensible to provide
  assignments that can be performed at home or from
  other work locations by the potentially exposed
  employee
• Whether the illness, or exposure to illness, was
  work-related

13
Policy Implementation contd

• Have you treated like cases alike?
• Have you complied with all wage and hour
  requirements with regard to paid or unpaid leave?
• Have you allowed the employee to utilize all
  benefits to which he or she is entitled as a
  matter of law and/or under your employers
  policies?

14
Policy Implementation contd

• Have you educated your employees as to the risks
  of transmission, company policies and reporting
  obligations?
• Have you reviewed your decision to make sure that
  you have not engaged in discrimination on the
  basis of a disability or the perception of a
  disability, or on the basis of any other
  protected classification (national origin,
  gender, etc.)?

15
Policy Implementation contd

• Have you reviewed your decision to make sure that
  you have not engaged in discrimination based on
  the fact that an employee has filed a claim for
  workers compensation benefits or has indicated
  an intention to file a claim for such benefits?
• Have you properly responded to any request for
  reasonable accommodation from an employee who is
  either disabled by a communicable illness or who
  has a disability that would put them at greater
  risk of exposure to a communicable illness in the
  workplace?

16
Policy Implementation contd

• Have you taken appropriate steps to protect the
  confidentiality of medical information including,
  but not limited to, security of files containing
  medical information and limiting disclosure of
  medical information on a need to know basis?
• Have you complied with applicable workers
  compensation laws for any illness deemed to have
  arisen out of the course and scope of employment?

17
Policy Implementation contd

• Have you provided all employees who have been
  exposed to a communicable illness in the course
  or scope of the employment, a workers
  compensation claim form?

18
Business Continuity/Resumption Issues

• Have you planned based on increases or decreases
  in demand for your services and/or products in
  the event of an outbreak?
• Have you planned for alternative sources of
  supplies and/or different needs for supplies in
  the event of an outbreak?
• Have you planned for transportation disruptions?
• Have you planned for disruption of basic services
  to include phone and internet service?

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Legal Review

• If your answer is no or I dont know to any
  of the items on this checklist, have you
  consulted legal counsel?
• Have you had your policy reviewed for legal
  compliance?