5 elements to consider before you prepare for a pandemic

5 elements to consider before you prepare for a pandemic

1: Monitor Travel

• Make sure you know who has been recently travelling in infected areas.
• Consider asking them to voluntarily quarantine themselves if they have visited infected areas.
• Consider limiting travel to those areas.

2: Monitor Sickness

We understand that the current virus presents itself with similar symptoms to common cold or flu.

• Ensure that your people will let you know if they don’t feel well.
• Monitoring all illness, however trivial, is essential at this point.
• Make sure to maintain communication with employees off work due to sickness.

3: Communicate and Educate

• Make sure you communicate to your people any escalation in World Health Organisation threat levels or your regional health authority advice.
• Let your employees know what you are doing and why you are doing it – they are more likely to buy-in to your measures.
• Consider issuing a factsheet covering common questions they might ask you.

4: Review your Policies and Procedures

Make sure you know how you are going to deal with people who are affected, either directly or indirectly, if things get worse:

• What is your policy on paying people who don’t feel safe coming into the office?
• What if they are unable to work because they can’t get their usual childcare cover?
• What is your process for repatriating people from overseas in case of an emergency?

5: Prepare to Escalate

If infection is confirmed in your country / region then you should be prepared for your next steps. These steps might include:

• Increasing the frequency of cleaning the building
• Putting up hygiene reminder posters
• Reviewing your teleworking policy
• Asking people to voluntarily quarantine themselves at home if they are unwell
• Restricting face-to-face meetings
• Preventing ‘hot-desking’ or phone sharing
• Providing hand gel and other kits
• Ensuring that your key suppliers will to be able to continue to support you, or that you have alternative plans in hand.