|
| |
Pandemic Influenza Planning
Checklist for Businesses
In the event of
pandemic influenza, businesses will play a key role in protecting employees'
health and safety as well as limiting the negative impact to the economy and
society. Planning for pandemic influenza is critical. To assist you, the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the following checklist for large
businesses. It identifies important, specific activities large businesses can
do now to prepare, many of which will also help you in other emergencies.
Further information can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov
and www.cdc.gov/business.
(return to home page)
Checklist Sections
1.1 Plan for the impact of a
pandemic on your business:
|
Tasks
|
Not Started
|
In Progress
|
Completed
|
 | 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). |
|
|
|
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
|
top of page
1.2 Plan for the impact of a
pandemic on your employees and customers:
|
Tasks
|
Not Started
|
In Progress
|
Completed
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
|
top of page
1.3 Establish policies to be
implemented during a pandemic:
|
Tasks
|
Not Started
|
In Progress
|
Completed
|
| 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). |
|
|
|
|
| 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 company's response
plan, altering business operations (e.g. shutting down operations
in affected areas), and transferring business knowledge to key
employees. |
|
|
|
|
top of page
1.4 Allocate resources to
protect your employees and customers during a pandemic:
|
Tasks
|
Not Started
|
In Progress
|
Completed
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
|
top of page
1.5 Communicate to and educate
your employees:
|
Tasks
|
Not Started
|
In Progress
|
Completed
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
|
| 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). |
|
|
|
|
top of page
1.6 Coordinate with external
organizations and help your community:
|
Tasks
|
Not Started
|
In Progress
|
Completed
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
|
| Communicate with local and/or state
public health agencies and/or emergency responders about the
assets and/or services your business could contribute to the
community. |
|
|
|
|
| Share best practices with other
businesses in your communities, chambers of commerce, and
associations to improve community response efforts. |
|
|
|
|
top of page
|
