Using the following guidelines to write your plan will help analyse the risks and so minimise the impacts of a pandemic on your business:
1.) Prepare for the potential loss of 50% of workforce over one or more waves of a pandemic each lasting 12-15 weeks and occuring weeks or months apart
2.) Allow for relocating staff to other sites or home to avoid crowded situations where infection rates will be greater
3.) Identify scenarios, e.g. working normally as far as is practicable, taking account of staff shortages and other related pandemic issues; or “shutting up shop” as far as possible
4.) Identify the Pandemic Incident Management Team (and a ‘back up’ team in the event of team members becoming unavailable)
5.) Develop a Pandemic Operating Regime which should become operational during the Pandemic Outbreak phase (or earlier)
6.) What will the trigger point be? Identify when the Pandemic Operating Regime will come into play. This could be when a previously determined number of staff become absent or when the government officially declares a pandemic.
7.) What are the company’s critical processes that will need to be sustained throughout?
8.) Who are the critical personnel whom the company cannot do without?
9.) Can other staff be cross-trained to take over in an emergency situation?
10.) Communication – ensure staff, customers and other interested parties are kept informed of the company’s preparedness planning for a pandemic situation and updates are issued regularly
11.) Staff welfare – refer to Government guidelines and establish a policy on staff welfare during a pandemic such as how to deal with infected staff, when to quarantine and offering counselling in the event of bereavement.
12.) Review HR policies with regard to absenteeism, compassionate and sick leave, wages, etc.
13.) Monitor events as they happen and be aware of government measures such as travel restrictions or quarantines.
14.) Identify staff who can work remotely, either from home or another location
15.) Review IT and telecoms networks to allow for usage by remote workers (and increased customer usage)
16.) Video-conferencing and other communication alternatives can be used to allow essential staff to continue working productively
17.) Supplies – how will critical functions be maintained if essential supplies are disrupted? Check suppliers have pandemic business continuity plans and make sure they are tested regularly
18.) Stakeholders – ensure they are aware of your pandemic preparedness planning
19.) Travel – establish how travel restrictions could affect productivity and how to deal with employees ‘stranded’ in other countries where a pandemic has been declared
20.) Test and test again – test plans frequently and as they are triggered by alerts. Review during each phase and update as necessary.
The aim of a Pandemic Coronavirus Plan is to ensure your organization continues to provide essential services to your clients or customers the list below is of things you should think about first what would the likely impact be on your organization
Create a Pandemic Coronavirus Team Have defined roles and responsibilities for preparedness and response planning Make sure the team is from a wide range of stakeholders Eg health and safety representatives, trade union officials If you are a small organization this team may only be 2 or 3 people, but it should always be more than one in case you are the first to get ill There is a sample table at the end of this document for listing the team members and their contact details, a very simple but effective tool for the team
Identify the critical activities of your business Include employees and other inputs that support those activities eg raw materials, suppliers, logistics, security There is a template at the end of the document to help you think about this
Consider training ancillary workers (cross-trainees, retirees, temps, contractors) Develop plans for changes in demand for your products or services - both increases and decreases
Prepare for the likely impact of a pandemic on your financial situation using multiple scenarios that affect different product lines and / or production/delivery sites
Do a Risk Assessment Analyze the impacts on the whole organization, as well as each of its parts Realise that certain parts will be harder hit as they rely more on people actually being on site
Assess the impact of travel restrictions (local, national or global) Stay up-to-date, work out which will be the crucial sources of information and start tracking them early (The Civil Contingencies secretariat and the Department of Health will both have websites to support you in the event of a pandemic)
Create a plan for how you will tell both internal people and external people about your response to the pandemic Review and update this communications plan periodically as it will change according to the types of activities you are undertaking
Test your plans and revise them if necessary
STEP 2 Impact on your employees and customers
Up to 50% of your workforce may require time off at some stage over the entire period of the pandemic Following the pandemic profile it is expected that it will build to a peak lasting 2-3 weeks where 15%-20% of staff may be absent Other staff absences could result from other illnesses, taking time off to provide care for dependents, family bereavement and fear of infection The government may impose travel restrictions and advise schools and nurseries in an area to close Small business units (5-15 staff) or small teams within larger business are likely to suffer higher percentages of staff absences up to 30%-35% over a 2-3 week period at local peak Although the above figures are based on previous pandemics remember that a new outbreak may not conform, so its best to keep plans flexible
When estimating the total number of staff absent, consider demographics of your work teams, including the percentage that have childcare or other family care responsibilities, normal absence levels and options for home or remote working
Assess your organizations need for continued face to face contact with your customers / suppliers and consider plans to lower the number and / or type of face to face meetings (eg video or teleconferencing instead)
Identify employees and key customers with special requirements and incorporate them into your plan
Consider your customers needs during a pandemic and whether to review your business model and arrangement to continue to meeting those needs (eg increase of mail ordering and internet shopping)
Maintain a contact list of current suppliers and develop an alternate list of suppliers for critical supplies and essential resources and services
Discuss with your suppliers / sub contractors their Business Continuity plans, you dont need the detail but you do want to feel reassured that they have done some planning remember your organization is only as good as those on whom it depends
STEP 3 Establish policies during a pandemic
Now that you’ve done much of the pre-thinking you are ready to develop some actual policies that you will use during the pandemic These may not be too different from your usual policies but they will need to be clearly communicated to the entire workforce so that they wont be confused In the event of a UK wide pandemic the government will publish some advice on policies and you should be sure to be aware of these when they come into force The following steps include likely government advice but will not cover everything the key, as before, is to remain flexible
Establish policies for sick leave absences unique to a pandemic, including policies on when a previously ill person is no longer infectious and can return to work after illness (ie when they are no longer showing symptoms and feel better) and agreeing them with trade unions, staff representatives and other professional representative bodies
Establish policies for flexible worksites including working from home and flexible work hours
Establish policies for reducing spread of Coronavirus at the worksite these should promote respiratory hygiene, cough etiquette, increased cleaning regimes and asking those with Coronavirus symptoms to stay at home
Set up authorities, triggers and procedures for activation and terminating the companys response plan, altering operations (maybe reducing operations in affected areas) and transferring key knowledge to relevant employees This might include nominating deputies for key employees in advance
Establish policies for restricting travel to affected areas (consider local, national and international regions), and guidance for employees returning from affected areas
STEP 4 Allocate resources to protect your employees and customers
In a pandemic, employers still have a duty to provide a safe place of work for their workers, remember the Health and Safety at work act This means you should provide infection control supplies for the entire workforce, which will probably include at the very least, hand-hygiene products, tissues and disposal facilities
Maintain a contact list of current infection control suppliers and develop a back up list too
Consider more frequent cleaning on premises and make sure this is budgeted for
You may need to increase IT infrastructure in order to support more home working, remote customer access etc
If you have staff based overseas then you should create a policy on access to medical treatment for them and include any specific arrangements that need to be put in place You should take into account the likelihood of reduced access to consular services during a global pandemic
STEP 5 Communicate to and train your employees
Most of the hard work is done by the time you get to this step but one of the most important parts comes next all of this careful planning and thinking is only useful if your workforce knows about it and can act on it during a pandemic
Develop and pass out easily-accessible information about pandemic Coronavirus to your workforce, it should be appropriate to the stage of alert (eg signs and symptoms of Coronavirus, most likely methods of transmission), personal and family protection and response strategies (eg hand hygiene, coughing / sneezing etiquette, contingency plans)
Ensure that communications are readable and understandable by all
Give information to employees about the pandemic preparedness and response plan for your organization, including their role in this plan
Develop platforms (eg hotlines, dedicated websites) for communicating pandemic status and actions to employees, vendors, suppliers and customers This will depend upon your size, but just having the ability to put pre written messages quickly onto your website will help
Anticipate employee fear, anxiety and misinformation and develop your messages accordingly
STEP 6 Coordinate with external organizations and help your community
This last step is for when you are feeling that your plan is developed and ready You can now begin to take on more of a community responsibility
Find out about pandemic planning in your region, for example through regional resilience terms and local resilience forums and liaise with agencies and local responders Share best practice with other organizations in your community as well as through industry associations