Take 5 for Business Continuity Management
By Neil Shister, Editor
The H1N1 pandemic was continuing to evolve as of late
November, primarily in the northern hemisphere, according to Dr. Keiji Fukuda, Special Adviser to the World Health Organization’s
Director-General on Pandemic Influenza.
Although encouraged that “overall health and surveillance systems appear
to be coping quite well,” Dr. Fukuda warned to expect “continued activity for
at least some number of weeks before we see a definitive downward trend.”
To underscore his cautionary note, the first European cases of a strain of swine
flu unable to be treated with the drug Tamiflu were
diagnosed in five patients in Wales (45 cases of Tamiflu-resistant
swine flu have been recorded thus far globally).
With the next wave of seasonal influenza illness beginning in North
America, Zurich Services’ Linda Conrad, Director of Strategic Business Risk,
offered recommendations to minimize potential disruption through better supply
chain and enterprise risk management. “The key to keeping your company running
is to develop a business continuity plan now,” she urged.
“At Zurich, we are approaching H1N1 by advising that companies could
improve their Business Continuity Management (BCM). A little tip to remember is ‘Take 5 for BCM’.
That means that a company should take 5 hours or 5 days now (depending on
current level of preparedness) to plan proactively in 5 key areas.”
· People: Educate employees and their
families about the threat, protective measures they can take and when to seek
medical attention. Encourage employees
to consult with their physicians about whether they should get a seasonal or
H1N1 vaccine. Review external safety regulations and internal Human Relations
sick leave policy (amending as necessary to encourage ill employees to stay
home). Identify essential employees by process, department and function, and
review backup or job rotation capabilities.
· Plant: Review facility layout in terms
of maintaining ‘one to two meter’ separation rule to minimize contagion
exposure (consider alternate shift schedules to maintain one to two meter
rule). Determine if temporary or
permanent barriers would be helpful in minimizing the
potential spread of disease. Clean and
disinfect work areas on a frequent basis. Provide hand sanitizer to prevent
spread of germs in your building.
· Processes: Identify the
critical processes that are essential for your business to function and meet
your customers’ demands. Identify which
among these processes could be operated remotely (in the event of quarantine).
Identify processes that could be scheduled in shift work or home work to
minimize worker contact (to reduce contagion). Establish remote computing where
possible, and organize an access 'test run'.
· Productivity:
Identify risks to the resiliency of your
supply chain in terms of up-stream and down-stream pandemic exposure. Log
critical suppliers and vendors. Plan for backup suppliers, distributors and
manufacturing facilities in various regions to insure against disruption or
quarantine. Consider maintaining an
inventory of critical materials should a supply disruption occur.
· Profit: Calculate the
potential impact on profit margin or time to market of different pandemic
scenarios. Prioritize solutions for
those areas which could cost you the most in terms sales, staffing or brand
reputation. Make plans to protect your profitability through alternative
suppliers, work locations or job assignments which can be implemented in case
of crisis.
Once you have pre-formulated your pandemic influenza business continuity
plan, consider a decision matrix to determine when to implement the various
portions of your plan. Here are some
areas that might be included in a decision matrix strategy.
· Disease factors – how quickly is the outbreak spreading from
community to community, country to country and the severity of the specific
influenza virus. Regularly check the
outbreak status on relevant websites listed below such as Centers for Disease
Control.
· Regional and community factors - these may include the level of healthcare and
public health support that your facilities might expect and what guidance the
public health authorities might provide when dealing with the pandemic.
· Individual company factors - these may include the level of interdependence of your sites,
inventory levels, backup production and remote work arrangements, and how
dependant your business is on suppliers, customers and the decisions of local
authorities.
All of these areas should be considered when deciding what portions of
your business continuity plan are to implemented at
various points in a crisis. There may
also be factors unique to your business which dictate when and in which order key
elements of your plan should be activated.
.
While swine flu may be contained for now, public health experts regard
the prospects of an influenza pandemic to be highly probable. “The
Business Continuity Institute estimates
that after experiencing a disaster, 43% of companies never reopen and 29% close
within two years. Without advance
preparations,” concludes Ms. Conrad, “the effects on your business could prove
critical, so planning now can help you remain profitable.”
Among the benefits which business continuity management extends, notes
Ms. Conrad, is sustainability and protection of a
company’s tangible and intangible assets. By proactively planning for business
continuity now, companies should be better able to provide on-going service
during a crisis, to maintain brand reputation, customer loyalty and profitability.
Resources:
Zurich has a number of resources available
to assist your business with actions you should be taking regarding the
pandemic influenza threat: Our pandemic
influenza information packet includes a checklist on "Controlling
communicable diseases in the workplace," information on building a
business continuity management plan, and Risk topic guides about "Pandemic
influenza emergency preparedness, " and "Infectious disease control
in the workplace" In addition, Zurich offers links below to "on
demand" webcasts on the H1N1 pandemic for viewing at your convenience.
https://www.brainshark.com/zurich/H1N1-Module-1-employees
https://www.brainshark.com/zurich/H1N1-Module-2-facilities
https://www.brainshark.com/zurich/H1N1-Module-3-b-continuity
Government websites:
US CDC web link to their business
continuity evaluation checklist => http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/pdf/businesschecklist.pdf
US CDC guidance for business => http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/business/
US OSHA guidance on preparing workplaces
for pandemic => http://www.osha.gov/Publications/influenza_pandemic.html#classifying_exposure
Most US information is organized at
the following web site =>
http://www.pandemicflu.gov
Health Agency of Canada web site on
H1N1 influenza => http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/swine_200904-eng.php