Plan for the Impact of a Pandemic on Your Business
While waiting for the full-blown outbreak, these are some of the considerations that an organisation should undertake immediately.
- Identify a pandemic coordinator and/or team with defined roles and responsibilities for preparedness and response planning.
- The pandemic planning process should include input from business continuity, crisis management, crisis communication teams
- Identify essential employees and other critical inputs
- These includes 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
- These workforce includes 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
- This includes the effect of restriction on mass gatherings (social distancing), 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
- They are mainly quarantines and border closures by the respective government
- Find up-to-date, reliable pandemic information from community public health, emergency management, and other sources and make sustainable links.
- These agencies includes the health authorities and the many other government agencies.
- Establish an emergency communications plan and revise periodically.
- This crisis communication 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
References
CDC (2005) Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist, https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/pdf/businesschecklist.pdf
Reference Guide
Goh, M. H. (2016). A Manager’s Guide to Implement Your Infectious Disease Business Continuity Plan, 2nd Edition. GMH Pte Ltd.
Do You Want to Continue Training During A Pandemic Outbreak?
Due to the pandemic outbreak, BCM Institute will be conducting its certification courses via interactive video conferencing, online and e-learning mode. Find out more about the Business Continuity Management (BCM) and Crisis Management (CM) Blended Learning (BL) courses.
For this period, the content will include the managing and implementing of the Pandemic Influenza plans.